Chapter Nineteen; The Horcrux
Harry, Ron, and Hermione returned to Dumbledore's office and added the memory to the pensive before sticking their faces inside of it.
….
"I was in the library the other day researching a very rare piece of magic called a horcrux." Tom said. "I was just wondering if you could tell me what it was." He said.
"Well you see Tom, a horcrux is an enchanted object used to contain a piece of one's soul." Slughorn told him.
"And how does one split the soul?" Tom asked him.
"I think that you already know the answer to that Tom." Slughorn told him as Tom turned around and faced the fireplace while twirling his mother's ring around inside his fingers.
"Murder." He replied. "And what if the person wanted to split his soul more than once?" he questioned.
"Well, I suppose so_" Slughorn said before Tom lifted his head and looked up at him and grinned.
"What about say,.. seven times?" he questioned him.
"Seven!? It's bad enough to murder the first time but seven!? This is all hypothetically speaking isn't it?" Slughorn questioned him but Tom simply just grinned before Harry, Ron, and Hermione all withdrew their heads.
"He succeeded didn't he? On making the horcruxes." Harry said as Dumbledore nodded.
"Yes Harry, he did." He began. "And that's why I very much need your help." He told him.
"You want us to go and find them?" Ron asked him.
"Well, yes and no. You see, there is a horcrux hidden somewhere around the school. I have been searching for it for weeks. I was wondering if any of you had seen it." He explained.
"No. We didn't even know what a horcrux was up until now, let alone how to find one." Ron told him.
"I see, I'm sorry Ron. I should have realized that." Dumbledore told him.
"Well how exactly do you find a horcrux?" Harry asked him.
"It leaves traces." Dumbledore said as Harry stared down at his hand and saw him remove a ring from his middle finger, it was the same ring that Tom had had. Harry grew a dazed look on his face as he stared at what appeared to be Dumbledore's burnt hand and saw a vision of Voldemort suddenly flash before his eyes. "Are you alright Harry?" Dumbledore asked him as he quickly shook his head.
"Uh yeah, yeah I'm fine." He began. "I was just wondering what happened to your hand." He said.
"Oh, that, well, it's nothing. It was simply a mere accident. I just burned it, that's all." He explained as he started tightening up his bandages. "Darn things keep slipping off." He said with a grin while he wound them around his injury. "Listen, since you three have done what I asked you to do your help is no longer needed." He said with a shake of his head.
"But we want to help you. Now that I know how to destroy Voldemort I want to help you find the horcrux so I can do it. If we find all seven of them that means we destroy him doesn't it?" Harry questioned him as Dumbledore lowered his head.
"Yes Harry, but I'm afraid that it's more complicated than that. And your parents and I care about you too much to put you in harm's way." He told him.
"I'm sixteen years old and I have almost come of age. I think I'm old enough to make my own decisions." Harry said as Dumbledore looked back up at him.
"Very well, but there are rules that I must have to absolutely insist upon. One you three need to bring Buddy with you." He said as all three of them exchanged looks and nodded. "And second of all you do whatever I say. If I tell you to run you run, if I tell you to abandon me and save yourself you do it. Do you understand?" he questioned them as they nodded. "One more thing, before we go I want you to know this, death is not the end, it is merely the beginning to something else. For the light inside you will always help you find your way." He told them.
Harry nodded along with Ron and Hermione although he didn't have a clue what he was talking about and why he decided to. "Now touch my arm." He told them.
"But Professor, I thought that we couldn't apparate and disapparate inside Hogwarts." Hermione said as Dumbledore simply just smiled at her.
"Well you see Hermione, being me has its advantages." He told her before the three of them touched his arm and they all disappeared.
….
Buddy trotted alongside them after they had appeared on an island that none of them had ever seen before. "Where are we!?" Ron hollered over the loud rushing wind however Harry recognized it by the way.
"We're near Diamond's Rock aren't we!?" he exclaimed while glancing up at the cloudy and grey sky that appeared as if it was going to start pouring rain any moment.
"That's right Harry, now come on and follow me! This way!" Dumbledore called over to them with a wave of his hand as they started climbing over the pile of rocks.
"This is where you and Diamond met?" Ron asked turning over to look at Harry. Harry just simply nodded and avoided eye contact with him. Even though it had been a couple of years since his dragon's death, it still brought back hurtful memories to think about it. Dumbledore led them to the entrance of the cave door before removing a needle out of his front pocket and pricking his finger.
"Uh Professor, what are you doing?" Hermione asked him.
"We need blood to enter here." He told her as he smeared it over the wall.
"Then why don't you let me do it?" Harry asked him.
"Because I'm much older and your blood is much more precious than mine. Now take a step back." He said as they all stepped back as the stone in front of the cave started to roll away and Harry's mind grew a sudden image of the stone in front of Jesus' tomb after He had risen from the dead. "Light your wands and ready them." He told them as all three of them lit their tips nonverbally while Dumbledore glanced down at Buddy and smiled.
"Except for you of course Buddy." He told him with a pat of his head before they all entered the cave.
"There aren't any dragons in here or anything are there?" Ron asked them nervously.
"No." Dumbledore replied in such a way that there might be something worse.
"I don't like the way you said that." Ron told him while they followed the light of their wands to a basin full of a black liquid substance.
"Uh Professor, what is that?" Hermione asked him.
"It's the drink of despair potion. All I have to do is drink it and then we'll be able to uncover the horcrux." He explained.
"Well then let me drink it." Harry told him.
"No Harry, I need to drink it. I am much older than you. Do you remember the conditions on which that I brought you three here?" he questioned them as all three of them nodded. "Well this potion might paralyze me and make me forget why I'm here. I need your word that whatever happens make me continue drinking it right until the last drop, even if you have to force it down my throat. Promise me now Harry." He told him as a few moments of silence fell between them before Harry nodded.
"I promise." He said.