This time it was just over three weeks before Dumbledore had another lesson with FitzSimmons, and on a Monday night instead of Saturday like the previous two.

Normally Dumbledore would have waited even longer in between meetings, and he had his own search for Voldemort's long hidden personal belongings to conduct, but he really wanted to get the one that he had already found destroyed, while also showing Harry and Hermione how to destroy them, in case they ever needed to — he hoped that wouldn't happen, but who knew what the future held, as he hadn't taken Divination as a student, and even prophecies could be sketchy (the one about Harry and Voldemort obviously being the exception, it was rock solid). Additionally, the pair had shown maturity well beyond their teenage years and the ability to handle a lot, as evidenced by the fact that they had always been the most relaxed students in the castle while O-ing ten OWLs, still seemed completely calm despite taking ten NEWTs, a completely unheard of feat, and from everything that he heard and saw were actually further along in their studies than most seventh years were in the Spring as they prepared for their NEWTs. To be perfectly honest, he wouldn't put it past them to be able to O all ten of their NEWTs at that very moment, two years early. So in the end, he decided to take a little extra time with them and teach them all of the information that they needed to know as quickly as reasonably possible, so that he could finally get the ring destroyed and no longer be hiding part of Voldemort's soul in the secret hidden cavity behind the portrait behind his desk.

To start off this lesson, Dumbledore told FitzSimmons what small amount he knew about Riddle's time through Hogwarts — mostly from his own observations as a professor at the time, as no one else who had been there at the time had ever been willing to talk about You-Know-Who since he had become You-Know-Who — and how Riddle was already setting up the people around him who would one day become his Death Eaters. Riddle had also been obsessed with his parentage during that time, which led to the first memory of the night — Riddle visiting his mum's childhood home, from Morfin's limited memory of the event. A trip in which Dumbledore told FitzSimmons that Riddle had also murdered in cold blood the man (Tom Riddle Sr) who had been raped to conceive Voldemort along with said man's parents, framed his own uncle Morfin for said atrocity, and stole Morfin's (previously Marvolo's) ring.

Then Dumbledore showed FitzSimmons a memory from inside the very castle that they were currently in, from the brain of none other than Professor Slughorn. In it Professor Slughorn was entertaining a group of students, including Riddle himself. And right before Professor Slughorn had dismissed them all to bed, the memory had suddenly descended into an impenetrable fog through which only Professor Slughorn's voice could be heard booming through very unnaturally, saying that he knew that Riddle would turn out bad, which seemed to FitzSimmons to be something that it was very, very unlikely Professor Slughorn actually would have said to the student in question even if he privately believed it — he wasn't Snape, after all — before the mist disappeared just as suddenly and the memory carried on. Then a few minutes later, immediately after Riddle asked the professor about something called a 'horcrux', the mysterious mist reappeared and Professor Slughorn's booming voice contradicted himself by saying that he knew nothing about horcruxes, but also that he wouldn't tell Riddle anything if he did, which was completely ludicrous as if he really hadn't known anything about them then he couldn't possibly tell Riddle that he wouldn't tell him about them, proving that he did know at least something about them. Reinforced by the booming voice continuing on to tell (presumably Riddle) to never speak of horcruxes again, which once again he wouldn't have had any reason to say if he didn't have at least some idea of what horcruxes were, to know that they were bad. And with that FitzSimmons and Dumbledore left the memory.

"Did the file get corrupted?" Fitz asked in confusion as soon as they were back in Dumbledore's office.

"Harry! These aren't computers!" Simmons hissed at her husband, before turning to Dumbledore and asking, "But seriously, did the memory get corrupted or something? I did notice when you poured it into the pensieve, that it didn't look as fluid as all of the previous memories, and this one wasn't any older than several of the others that you've shown us so far."

"Corrupted is not a bad description," Dumbledore answered. "Tampered with is what I would personally use. Professor Slughorn has intentionally meddled with his own recollections."

"Why?" Simmons asked. "And you said 'intentionally', so I'm assuming it's not trauma that his mind has attempted to erase or change to protect himself? That is a thing for certain types of trauma — the brain can be very weird sometimes, though it's usually trying its best unless you've stressed it too far. Depriving it of oxygen for too long and then making it live an entirely second life a few years later can have certain negative effects of the hallucinatory variety, I know — but I digress."

"He has meddled with his memories because, I think, he is ashamed of what he remembers," Dumbledore answered, figuring it best to just ignore everything Hermione was talking about that he didn't understand. "He has tried to rework the memory to show himself in a better light, obliterating those parts which he does not wish me to see. It is, as you will have noticed, very crudely done, and that is all to the good, for it shows that the true memory is still there beneath the alterations. And so, for the first time, I am giving you homework. It will be your job to persuade Professor Slughorn to divulge the real memory, which will undoubtedly be our most crucial piece of information of all. It is most important that we secure the true memory, Harry…. How important, we will only know when we have seen the real thing."

"What is a horcrux?" Simmons asked. "Or is that why you need the real memory, because Professor Slughorn does know what it is and told Riddle that night, and you're trying to figure out what it is that Voldemort might have one of?"

"What a horcrux is I am well aware of," Dumbledore answered gravely. "It is what else Horace might have told Voldemort that I believe is of crucial importance. But as soon as you procure that memory, it will explain itself what a horcrux is."

Simmons nodded politely, knowing that Dumbledore was not going to tell them any more that night.

But once they had all said goodnight and FitzSimmons were strolling back up to Gryffindor Tower, Fitz asked, "Research on horcruxes?"

"If Professor Slughorn was that adamant about not revealing how much he told Riddle about these objects, I'm going to go out on a limb here and guess that we're not going to be able to find any information out about them in the library — at least not in the non-restricted section, and we have no excuse for trying to get into the restricted section to look, if there even is anything in there about them, which I'm really not sure there will be," Simmons answered. "Besides, we have class with Professor Slughorn tomorrow afternoon — we get the memory from him after class, we can find out from Dumbledore tomorrow night."

~FS~

When Potions ended the following afternoon, despite having another class that they were expected in, FitzSimmons approached Professor Slughorn where he was packing up his own dragonskin briefcase at the front of the classroom.

"Can I help you with something?" he asked them jovially.

"It's private — could we go to your office or something?" Fitz answered.

"Of course, of course, anything for my brightest two students!" Professor Slughorn exclaimed. "Right this way!"

The three of them walked up through the castle together, and a few minutes later they were all seated in his office, at which point Professor Slughorn asked them again, "So what can I do for you?"

Fitz jumped straight into it.

"Dumbledore wants us to get a memory from you that he's tried to get before, but you gave him an altered version of. We don't know why, he still hasn't told us what he's really doing showing us all of these memories, but he believes it to be extremely important to killing Tom Riddle. We have no clue if that's true or not, we can't judge for ourselves as like we said, he hasn't told us anything seemingly substantive yet. But you have it, we need it, so hand it over — Dumbledore is quite urgent. And don't try denying it, we saw the altered memory, we know that you know something about horcruxes or you wouldn't have altered what you told Riddle, because you couldn't have told him that you wouldn't tell him even if you did know, if you didn't know that they were too bad to tell him — same with altering your memory to say not to catch Riddle ever mentioning them again. Your altered memory is a logical fallacy."

"So just hand over your real memory, and make all of our lives a lot easier," Simmons picked up when her husband stopped to take a breath. "So you did something bad in the past, big deal — everyone has. Harry here cut a magical suppression device out of our best friend's neck without her permission, and she hated him for a long time for it. But they're back to being best friends again now, and I can't keep them apart. And it's not like anyone in the world will ever know what you did except for Dumbledore, who I'm assuming already has a guess or he wouldn't be trying so hard to get this memory, and the two of us, who have been impressed by everything that we've seen about you in the present, not the least being getting Snape out of Potions at the risk of associating yourself with Hogwarts and Dumbledore. So grow a pair, own up to the mistakes you made in the long past, and try to make things right in the present where you can do something about it — which in this case means giving us, and therefore Dumbledore, your real memory of that night."

Professor Slughorn just stared at them in shock for the longest time, clearly flabbergasted by such a direct, blunt approach to getting the memory from him, when he had been expecting to eventually have a very sly move made against him at some point to get it again — he wasn't stupid, he knew why Dumbledore wanted him at the school. But eventually, he stuttered out, "I-I d-don't know what you're talking about."

"No one is judging you," Simmons said softly, changing tactics slightly to go 'blunt cop/caring, understanding, sympathetic cop', even if she was playing both parts. "We just want to make things better, by getting rid of Riddle once and for all, and we can only do that with your help. You like to associate with famous people, Professor Slughorn — who could possibly be more famous to associate with than the boy who ended Riddle's first reign, and the couple who ended him for good this time? That you told them the key piece of information that enabled them to kill Riddle forever? No one need ever know what you actually told us, or told Riddle all those years ago — all anyone besides the three of us and Dumbledore ever needs to know is that you were able to give the Harry Potter information that helped him end this terror forever. Isn't that worth reliving what you said all those years ago, and admitting to three people that you made a mistake? Wrongs have been committed. Now we make them right — together."

"And you want us at your parties and dinners all year," Fitz added. "Which we're more than happy to do, and will all that we can, but do you really want us coming to them knowing that you have a secret that we're trying to get from you? That after any of these parties we could try to interrogate you again for this memory? How many times can you avoid us, and how many times can you hold yourself back from giving in and finally giving us the memory? Hermione and I are trained, expert interrogators — Hermione once used a severed head to get the information that she needed out of someone. We would much rather you just give us the memory now, no hassle or fuss, than go through all of that just for you to still give us the memory in the end. This way is better for all of us, and will lead to a much happy, more joyful year for all concerned, with no one needing to be decapitated."

The prospect of connection to even more fame finally seemed to change Professor Slughorn's mind. But he was still very reluctant as he said to them, "I am not proud…I am ashamed of what — of what that memory shows. I think I may have done great damage that day... Just don't think too badly of me once you've seen it."

Then pulling out his wand, he stuck the tip to his temple and drew out a memory, placing it in a small glass bottle that he pulled out from inside his desk.

"Thank you, Professor," Fitz said genuinely as he took the bottle that Professor Slughorn handed across the desk. "You're a good man."

~FS~

That evening at the end of supper, FitzSimmons walked up to where Dumbledore was sitting at the staff table still eating.

"Hi, Professor Dumbledore," Simmons greeted. "When you have some free time, we have some questions that we need to ask you about some advanced magic that we've been studying."

Dumbledore looked at her in confusion for a second, before realizing what she was getting at. "Oh! Yes, of course, I would be happy to discuss it with you. Does eight in my office work?"

"Wonderful," Simmons answered.

"Good, good, I'll see you then," Dumbledore replied.

So at 20:00 FitzSimmons found themselves sitting in Dumbledore's office for the second night in a row.

"So you retrieved the memory?" Dumbledore said. "I'm honestly impressed with how quickly you managed to do it."

"Blunt honesty solves a lot," Simmons answered shortly, having no interest in discussing how they got the memory, as she doubted that Dumbledore would approve of them having told Professor Slughorn as much as they had. "So are we going to look at the real memory now?"

Dumbledore seemed to accept her answer, or else cared less about how they had obtained it than Simmons had expected, as he simply replied, "Certainly. If you will follow me…."

This time Professor Slughorn's memory did not contain any abnormal weather events or booming voices replacing the real events of that fateful night, and a lot more of Professor Slughorn telling Riddle that he would become Minister of Magic one day and that he would certainly go far, as well as telling Riddle all about horcruxes, before finally becoming bothered when Riddle asked how to actually make one, and then highly disturbed when Riddle asked about splitting a soul into seven pieces, before finally sending Riddle on his way, regretting having ever let himself get drawn into the conversation.

Back in Dumbledore's office once the memory was over, Fitz commented, "Well, Professor Slughorn was definitely right about Riddle going far — if just in a much different direction than Professor Slughorn had envisioned at the time."

"And am I correct in assuming that your guess is that Riddle eventually made seven horcruxes?" Simmons asked the headmaster. "Or would it only be six, as the original part of the soul continues to count as one of those seven pieces? Riddle could have been thinking seven total pieces of his soul, or seven protected pieces of his soul as his magical number, he didn't really specify."

"I believe it to only be six horcruxes," Dumbledore answered gravely. "The seventh part of his soul, however maimed, resides inside his regenerated body. That was the part of him that lived a spectral existence for so many years during his exile; without that, he has no self at all.

"But this memory does confirm the theory on which I have been working for many years. I have been hoping for this piece of evidence for a very long time, and it tells me that I am right, and also how very far there is still to go. What Voldemort wanted from Horace was an opinion on what would happen to the wizard who created more than one Horcrux, what would happen to the wizard so determined to evade death that he would be prepared to murder many times, rip his soul repeatedly, so as to store it in many, separately concealed Horcruxes. No book would have given him that information. As far as I know — as far, I am sure, as Voldemort knew — no wizard had ever done more than tear his soul in two.

"Four years ago, I received what I considered certain proof that Voldemort had split his soul. It was thanks to you two, in fact. Remember when I told you that Voldemort had used a cursed magical object to open the Chamber of Secrets that you found the entrance to? While attempting to destroy it to make sure the Chamber could never be opened again, I discovered that it was protected well beyond any normal cursed item even for this purpose would be, destroyable only by a method capable of destroying a horcrux. What intrigued and alarmed me most, though, was that the diary had been intended as a weapon as much as a safeguard."

"If it was to protect Riddle from ever dying, why make it also an object that had to be given to someone to make them unwillingly open the Camber for him — increases the chances of it getting destroyed somewhere along the way, even if it is very hard to destroy, or someone realizing what it was and intentionally destroying it," Simmons nodded wisely.

"Precisely," Dumbledore said. "I did not wish to believe it, but nothing else seemed to make sense. For Lord Voldemort has seemed to grow less human with the passing years, and the transformation he has undergone seemed to me to be only explainable if his soul was mutilated beyond the realms of what we might call 'usual evil'. But now, armed with this information, the crucial memory you have succeeded in procuring for us, we are closer to the secret of finishing Lord Voldemort than anyone has ever been before."

"We just have to find and then destroy six random objects that Riddle put his soul into, that you just said were very difficult to destroy," Fitz muttered sarcastically. "Easy-peasy."

"I assume that there is some way to detect them, or find them, or something?" Simmons asked Dumbledore. "Because six random, undetectable objects sounds like an impossible task even for us, and we specialize in the impossible, twice on Sundays."

"We have certain information to go on," Dumbledore answered. "And remember, I have already destroyed one — the diary that was opening the Chamber of Secrets. Also, I found a second one over the summer that I have been waiting until this very meeting to destroy so that I can show you one way to destroy them in case you ever need to."

And indeed he had discovered a second one. Having had to run the school and repel the Ministry from the school during the previous school year, Dumbledore hadn't been able to do very much soul-searching over the spring and early summer. But once school was out, and the Ministry had finally conceded that it was possible that Voldemort was back and everyone should start being vigilant instead of relying on the Ministry for everything, he had been able to go looking again. And near the end of summer he had finally found Gaunt's ring in the abandoned hovel. And he had been right on the verge of looking over it and destroying it, when he had decided that it was close enough to Harry Potter returning and his private lessons starting, that he would just store it away safely and wait until then, so as to show Harry and Hermione how to destroy a horcrux, in case the boy-sacrifice ever needed to do it himself for some reason. The boy-sacrifice who for some inexplicable reason it now looked like actually wasn't a seventh horcrux and wouldn't have to die in order to kill Voldemort forever.

Dumbledore turned around to the portrait hanging behind him and swung it open, revealing a hidden cavity in the stone wall behind it. Removing the enchantments he had on it protecting it, he pulled Riddle's black ring out from inside and placed it on the desk between him and FitzSimmons. Then he walked over to the glass case that also held the Sorting Hat and took the Sword of Gryffindor off of its shelf, before returning to his desk.

"The Sword of Gryffindor, which is made of goblin's silver, only imbibes substances which strengthen it," Dumbledore explained. "Which means, after all of the history that it has been through, all of the battles that it has been used in over the centuries and millennia, it has absorbed enough magic to be capable of destroying a horcrux."

Setting the sword down on his desk, he picked up the ring and turned it over in his hand slowly, muttering to himself, "You know…If this is what I think it actually is…"

"Dumbledore! No! Do not mess with cursed objects you don't fully understand!" Simmons scolded sharply, jumping up from her seat. "Harry and I have messed with a cursed magical book before, saving Harry's life, and the end result was unleashing a psychopathic robot that caused far more harm, physically and especially mentally, than you can possibly comprehend — she made Riddle seem like a fluffy puppy dog in comparison! You know how to destroy that thing, and you know that it needs to be destroyed — just destroy it! Don't be stupid!"

Dumbledore stared at her in shock for several long seconds, before finally shaking his head as if clearing it. "You are right, you are right — the foolishness of an old man again, I'm afraid. It's bound to be carrying more curses than just the horcrux if I am correct, and in my better moments I know that it can't really do what it promises anyway. Well, it would do it, but not in the way that I, or anyone else actually wants. No, youth has shown more wisdom than an old fool tonight. Thank you, my dear — who knows what could have happened if I had tried what I wanted to, but doubtlessly it would have been unpleasant. So now for destroying it. Stand back, and watch."

Once FitzSimmons had cleared to the other side of the room, Dumbledore set the ring back down on his desk, before picking up the sword and bringing the sharp blade down on the rock. There was a piercing scream, black goo oozed out from the crack that the sword had made in the stone before vaporizing with a hissing sound, and then all was deathly silent again.

After several seconds of this silence, Dumbledore finally said, "There — the ring is no longer a horcrux."

"So that's two of six down — four more to go before anyone, not just Harry and I, can kill Riddle," Simmons said business-like. "So how are you finding them? Or how did you find this one, since the Chamber one was kind of handed to you by whoever brought it into the school?"

"Well, for many years I have made it my business to discover as much as I can about Voldemort's past life," Dumbledore answered. "I have traveled widely, visiting those places he once knew. I stumbled across the ring hidden in the ruin of the Gaunts' house. It seem that once Voldemort had succeeded in sealing a piece of his soul inside it, he did not want to wear it anymore. He hid it, protected by many powerful enchantments, in the shack where his ancestors had once lived — Morfin having been carted off to Azkaban by that point, of course — never guessing that anyone might one day take the trouble to visit the ruin, or that they might be keeping an eye open for traces of magical concealment.

"Also, you are forgetting what I have shown you. Would Lord Voldemort use tin cans or old potion bottles to guard his own precious soul? Even as a child he liked to collect trophies, and he preferred objects with a powerful magical history. His pride, his belief in his own superiority, his determination to carve for himself a startling place in magical history — these things suggest to me that Voldemort would have chosen his horcruxes with great care, favoring objects worthy of the honor."

"So do you know what any of his other horcruxes are?" Fitz asked.

"I can only guess," Dumbledore answered. "For the reasons I have already given, I believe that Lord Voldemort would prefer objects that, in themselves, have a certain grandeur. I have therefore traveled back through Voldemort's past to see if I can find evidence that such artifacts have disappeared around him. Of which I have two more memories to show you. But first, I need to complete the story of Voldemort after graduating from Hogwarts."

Once he had, he showed them two more memories, one of Riddle visiting Hepzibah Smith and the other of Riddle returning to the castle many years later to apply for a teaching position. After the first memory he explained how Riddle had framed Hokey the adorable but ancient house elf for his murder of Smith so that he could steal from the old woman the locket that had once belonged to his mum, and then also Hufflepuff's Cup. Then he showed them his own memory of Riddle returning to the castle having applied for a teaching position, and Dumbledore calling him out on his bullshite of actually wanting to teach, along with letting Riddle know that he had been keeping tabs on his former student, and knew much of what Riddle was doing in the shadows, or at least rumors of what he was doing.

"What position had he applied for as an excuse to get into the castle that night?" Simmons asked once they were all seated around Dumbledore's desk in the present again.

"He wanted the Defense Against the Dark Arts job," Dumbledore answered. "The aftermath of our little meeting proved that. You see, we have never been able to keep a Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher for longer than a year since I refused the post to Lord Voldemort."

"So that's why no one's lasted more than a year since we got here!" Fitz exclaimed. "We had noticed the statistically abnormal turnover for the position, especially compared to the fact that other than Magical Creatures, Divination, and now Potions, every single other class has had exactly the same professor our entire time here, and we wondered what was going on."

"Really smart, though honestly completely textbook move on his part," Simmons added. "What better way to solidify his impending reign than by making sure that no one could defend themselves as well as they should be able to against him and his army — it's exactly the same thing that Fudge did with Umbridge and carried on with Weasley last year, only Voldemort did it longterm instead of a single year or two, and in that respect was more successful though he had to play the longer game. Disarm the people before you start to take over so that they can't fight back. Only in the wizarding world, since the arms are used for absolutely everything so you can't physically take them away, and registering them to take away later serves no purpose as you already know that everyone has one, you instead have to either make the arms incapable of being used as weapons, or the way both parties actually did it, make the people incapable of using their arms as weapons."

"So did Riddle just come back to curse the position to aid his impending takeover, or did he have another reason as well?" Fitz asked. "Is that the kind of spell that's location based, that he could only do from inside the castle that it applied to, maybe even only from the headmaster's office since that in essence is where the DADA professor for each year is hired from? Or did he have other objectives while in the castle, and that was just part of his larger plan?"

"To answer that, we must return to what Voldemort's remaining horcruxes might be. From the memories that I've shown you, can you hazard a guess as to what I believe two of them might be?"

"His mum's former locket and Hufflepuff's Cup," Simmons answered immediately. "So he was also here looking for more significant objects to add to his collection of his grandfather's ring, his mother's former locket that was also Salazar Slytherin's, doubtlessly a hero of his by that point, and Hufflepuff's Cup, another object from one of the four founders of the school."

"So he was looking for something from Rowena Ravenclaw and Godric Gryffindor?" Fitz wagered a guess.

"Once again, this is only my guess, but I believe you are correct," Dumbledore answered. "It is my guess that, having secured objects from Hufflepuff and Slytherin, he set out to track down objects owned by Gryffindor and Ravenclaw. Four objects from the four founders would, I am sure, have exerted a powerful pull over Voldemort's imagination. I cannot answer for whether he ever managed to find anything of Ravenclaw's. I am confident, however, that the only known relic of Gryffindor — this sword — remains safe. Unfortunately, that does not advance us much further, for he was turned away, or so I believe, without the chance to search the school. I am forced to conclude that he never fulfilled his ambition of collecting four founders' objects. He definitely had two — he may have found three — that is the best we can do for now."

"You said he didn't have time to search the school for one? Okay then, what if he actually didn't come here to find one, like we first supposed, but rather to hide one?" Fitz suggested. "Is that possible? He would need a lot less time to hide something than to find something, unless he already knew exactly where it was, in which case it's not so much 'finding' as 'retrieving'. Was he escorted by a professor all the way from the moment he entered the castle gates down the road until the castle gates hit his arse on the way out?"

"Well, no, but…the portraits surely would have told me if he had done anything suspicious," Dumbledore answered slowly.

"So maybe there's a place that isn't covered by the security cameras, or portraits in this case — a blind spot in your vision that he could hide something that was easily concealable under his robes," Simmons said. "Also, the portraits either aren't too good, or else aren't being used, because they sure as hell aren't stopping bullying and abuse and cursing in the hallways like they could be."

"If Voldemort did successfully hide something, I'm sure it would be in a place like the Chamber of Secrets that only he knew about," Dumbledore replied, completely ignoring her accusation that the adults didn't give two shites about stopping bullying so long as it wasn't occurring directly in front of them where they couldn't ignore it. "Perhaps even in the Chamber of Secrets, as I have never fully explored that place since discovering it — thanks to you two, of course — and defeating the threat stored down there for good. I can certainly look, though."

"And if Riddle hid it some place only he knew about — Chamber of Secrets not included since that was discovered — we have about as much chance of finding it as Hydra not coming back, and another Riddle or Grindelwald not rising up in the next fifty, or a hundred years," Simmons answered. "But if he hid it somewhere that he thought only he knew about, being as conceited as he is, but in reality lots of students have discovered it as a good hiding spot, then we have a chance."

Dumbledore didn't seem to have any answer to this, so after a few seconds Fitz said, "Assuming he hid something in the castle that night and it wasn't one that we've already covered, that still leaves one more. Any ideas?"

"I think I do," Dumbledore answered. "Voldemort has a snake named Nagini that I believe is the sixth horcrux. She underlines the Slytherin connection, which enhances Lord Voldemort's mystique, and I think he is perhaps as fond of her as he can be of anything — he certainly likes to keep her close, and he seems to have an unusual amount of control over her, even for a Parselmouth."

"If that's the case, then she'll probably have to be killed right before killing Riddle, if she's normally with him," Simmons said. "Though for the point of horcruxes to be hidden and safe, that doesn't seem like the smartest move on his part. Also, does it make the snake immortal, or will the snake carcass just never decay after it dies? Or the bones never deteriorate, or something, to hold a part of his soul infinitely?"

"That I cannot say, and I doubt anyone else can either," Dumbledore replied. "I highly doubt that any wizard before has ever tried using an animal as a horcrux. It is inadvisable to do so, because to confide a part of your soul to something that can think and move for itself is obviously a very risky business."

"And you don't know what will happen if and when the animal dies, if no one's ever tried it before you," Simmons added. "But that's all really quite irrelevant if he has in fact done it, because all that matters to us in the mission of killing Riddle is killing it ourselves right before killing him."

Dumbledore just kind of nodded in agreement, and everyone was silent for several seconds thinking through everything, before Fitz suddenly asked, "Does Voldemort know when a horcrux is destroyed? Like can he feel that a part of his soul has been permanently destroyed? And either way, can he make more if he does know when it occurs or learns at some point afterwards that they're being destroyed?"

"A very interesting question, Harry," Dumbledore replied. "I believe not. I believe that Voldemort is now so immersed in evil, and these crucial parts of himself have been detached for so long, he does not feel as we do. Perhaps, at the point of death, he might be aware of his loss...but he still does not, for instance, know for sure that the diary has been destroyed. When Voldemort forced the truth out of Lucius Malfoy and discovered that the diary had been given to a student to open the Chamber of Secrets, I am told that his anger was quite great. But all Voldemort or Malfoy still know to this day is that the diary stopped being used, most likely having fallen into the hands of someone who either had no interest in using it or someone who could tell that it contained some kind of dark magic and therefore stored it away so that it couldn't do whatever it does. What they don't know is that it has been mutilated and robbed of all its powers, or that its true secret has been discovered."

"And the possibility of making more?" Simmons reminded the headmaster of the second half of her husband's question.

"I cannot say for sure, but after already splitting his soul six times, I would be surprised if there is enough soul left to split any more," Dumbledore answered. "Then again, the fact that there was enough soul for him to split it that many times is rather surprising, and something no dark wizard had ever attempted before. But even if he physically could, whether he would risk doing it again, and especially multiple times if he learns that multiple of his horcruxes have been destroyed, seems unlikely to me."

"And I assume you have spies keeping an eye on him who can report back most murders he commits, to see if any of them feel like they could have been used to create a new horcrux?" Simmons said.

"I have my inside sources, yes," Dumbledore agreed.

"Then that's the best we can work with," Simmons said. "Hope he's unwilling to try, hope he doesn't discover that we're killing them in the first place, and just keep a close eye out on him to see if it looks like he is trying to make any more."

Everyone was silent again for several seconds, before Dumbledore said, "Well, that is all I have for you this evening, unless either of you have anything else you would like to add or ask about."

FitzSimmons both shook their heads, and stood up.

But before they could actually turn for the door, Dumbledore said, "As I mentioned before, I have made it my business to look for places where he might have hidden his horcruxes. And I believe that I am on the trail of finding another of his possible hiding places, though I do not know when, or even if, I shall actually succeed. However, if you would like to come with me whenever I do find the possible location of another horcrux, I believe you have earned that right."

"Sure!" Simmons answered eagerly before her husband could protest.

He had become much more comfortable in the field since she had first drug him out of their non-mobile lab and onto the BUS, but she still knew that he would grumble at going out looking for horcruxes himself. And he did, in the form of shooting her a glare that Dumbledore seemed not to notice.

"Wonderful!" the headmaster exclaimed instead. "Then I will let you know when the time comes. But until then, continue to excel in your classes as you already are, and we will meet again when a situation arises."

And that situation arose quicker than Dumbledore expected it to.

Because the following day, FitzSimmons began asking around about any possible hiding spots that Riddle could have placed his horcrux in the castle.

"If you needed to hide something really quickly here in the castle where no one else would find it, where would you hide it?" Simmons asked every student or small group of students that they went up to.

They got many different answers, none that seemed overly likely for Riddle's use, or else had portraits nearby that most likely would have alerted Dumbledore if they had seen Riddle doing anything suspicious within their field of view, until a third year overheard them asking some fifth years in the courtyard after classes were over, and told FitzSimmons, "I'd use the Room of Requirement up on the seventh floor. Lots and lots of other students have over the years as well based on how much stuff is hidden in there. Just walk past the blank wall across from the tapestry of the troll ballet three times, thinking something along the lines of 'I need a place to hide something'."

So as supper began winding down that evening, FitzSimmons walked up to the staff table for the second time in as many evenings.

"Hi, Professor Dumbledore," Simmons greeted cheerfully. "We found something that might interest you."

Like the previous night she didn't want to be too revealing, as based on how Dumbledore had warned them not to tell anyone anything about what they were doing in their 'lessons', she had a strong suspicion that none of the other professors knew anything about Dumbledore's research into Riddle or the horcruxes, and that the headmaster wanted to keep it that way.

"Indeed?" Dumbledore replied, intrigued. "Yes, well, lead on, lead on — I'm done eating. Excuse me, Professor McGonagall, but duty calls."

Once they were walking down a vacant passageway as FitzSimmons led the headmaster up to the seventh floor, he asked, "So what new secret chamber have you discovered this time?"

"Not so secret, but we do think it would make an excellent hiding place," Simmons answered. "The student who told us about it said that lots of students use it for hiding things that they shouldn't have, which depending on how often it had been used by the time Riddle came along, either was secret to him, or had so much stuff in it already that it was hiding it in so much other junk, with spells to keep anyone from noticing it, that he felt safe enough hiding it there — we haven't actually been inside yet, since we have no clue what we're looking for. And honestly, we have no clue if he really hid it in here, just that it sounds like a place he could have and it's an easier search than the entire country of Great Britain, so it seemed like a good, hopefully not too long search that we just might get lucky on. Also, it's called the Room of Requirement, if you've ever heard the name, hidden on the seventh floor."

"I have not," Dumbledore said. "But I would never dream of assuming I know all of Hogwarts' secrets — the Chamber of Secrets being proof enough."

Soon they were up on the seventh floor corridor in question, and Simmons walked back and forth in front of the wall in question three times muttering loudly enough for Dumbledore to hear her, "I need a place to hide something illegal."

After her third pass, a highly polished door with a shiny brass handle appeared in the previously blank stone wall.

"Fascinating — this is the exact hallway I was walking down early one morning some years ago with an exceptionally full bladder, and this exact door appeared leading into a beautifully proportioned room I had never seen before or been able to find since, containing a really rather magnificent collection of chamber pots," Dumbledore mused as much to himself as to FitzSimmons.

Pushing open the door Fitz led them inside, cueing Jemma gasping — as well as Fitz and Dumbledore. For the room that they had entered was the size of a large cathedral, and was filled with towering walls of broken or illegal objects, forming alleyways and roads — the dumping grounds and hiding spot of countless generations of Hogwarts students.

"Okay — was not expecting this," Simmons said, staring around at the vastness of the mess. "Definitely a great place to hide something you never want found, though. Some kind of perception filter charm to keep anyone from noticing the horcrux, and then over time it gets buried beneath a mountain of other junk, never to be seen again, protected for all of time in the most secure place in all of Britain, Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry." Turning to Dumbledore she continued on, "Which is where you come in. You found the ring looking for traces of magical concealment. Well — have fun."

Dumbledore looked at her with a raised eyebrow, but proceeded to pull out his wand and begin slowly moving forwards into the room, waving his wand in various sweeping motions and muttering spells under his breath that FitzSimmons had never heard before, as the couple followed after him. It was a long, slow processes, up one aisle and down the next, trying not to miss any side paths, past an abandoned, broken vanishing cabinet here and around an enormous stuffed troll there, before Dumbledore finally came to a halt in front of a large cabinet that looked like it had had acid thrown on it decades before.

"There is unusually strong magic nearby," he said. "Be very careful, touch nothing you aren't sure about, but look for anything that seems like it could be worthy of being turned into a horcrux by Lord Voldemort — you know what we believe the others to be."

So FitzSimmons began looking all around, Wingardium Leviosa-ing any normal junk out of their way, until Fitz suddenly exclaimed, "Over here! And if it's not a horcrux, at least make sure it's not cursed and give it to Hermione to wear to fancy parties — it would look beautiful on her."

Simmons and Dumbledore both hurried over to where Fitz was pointing at a tarnished silver tiara sitting on top of a dusty old wig.

"That's — that can't be!" Dumbledore exclaimed in shock. Looking over at FitzSimmons, who were looking at him patiently for an explanation, he said, "That is at the very least identical to Ravenclaw's Diadem — Ravenclaw's long lost diadem. Voldemort would have undoubtedly wanted to turn that into a horcrux if he had found the real thing."

Casting several more spells on it, he finally said, "Congratulations, Harry — you found the one horcrux we didn't have any idea what was. Now Harry, since you found this horcrux, would you like the honor of destroying it the same way that I destroyed Marvolo's ring last night? It should really be you — there is an incalculable power of certain acts when it comes to magic like this."

"As much as we would have no problem with the practice, our answer is no, Sir — I won't be the one to destroy it, and neither will Hermione," Fitz answered firmly. "Because this is the prophecy all over again — everyone refusing to try to kill Riddle themselves because someone else was prophesied to do it, so they think they have a free pass not to even try. Finding and destroying these is your job — not the job of two students, brilliant as we might be. Now, we're happy to help where we can, like finding this one for you, or going with you to help out the next time you find a location like you asked last night, or suggesting possible locations thanks to our extensive knowledge of how bad guys think, but this is still your job as the leading adult. And we will do whatever it takes to prove that everyone can fight against Riddle, not just the select few whom the right situation happened to come to."

Dumbledore stared at him in shock for several seconds, before finally beginning weakly, "But Harry —!"

"No. No buts. You want it destroyed, do it yourself," Fitz replied just as unmovingly as before. Then turning to his wife he continued on, "I believe our job is done here, Hermione. Ready to leave?"

"Gladly," Simmons answered, taking Fitz's hand and twining her fingers with his. "We've done our part — and I believe I hear homework calling our names, since we are after all just students at a school."

And with that they turned and walked out of the Room of Requirement, leaving behind a still shocked Dumbledore, who did eventually take the diadem back to his office and destroy it himself without any trouble at all.