Chapter 3: Horcruxes

I do not own Harry Potter

Author's Notes:

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6:18| Chamber of Secrets| Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry| June 13th 1993

"…. And then I came to the chamber and found you." Harry had picked up where they left off the previous day, and had just finished recounting the events of his first two years at Hogwarts. He did not leave anything out.

"So yeah, I'm three nil up against Voldemort!" Harry finished jokingly, with no sign of the maelstrom of the previous day.

Salazar inhaled slowly through his nose (or at least the painting equivalent of a nose), and then exhaled rapidly through his mouth.

"You have given me a lot of information, some of it is truly startling… let us deal with Riddle first. When Riddle said he was more than a memory, he was not lying. The diary contained a piece of his soul."

"What? His soul? What does that mean? Did he tear a part of his own soul and leave it in the diary? How do you even do that?!" Harry asked confusedly.

"This is an extremely nebulous and vile concept, and something a child should not know. However, a child should also not have to face off against an ancient basilisk or a possessed teacher, so I believe you have earned the right to hear this. Now, let me explain. That diary is what you call a horcrux, something I am sure your headmaster is aware of – we will get back to him later, we nearly breached this topic yesterday as well, and I do not want our discussion to veer off from this matter again. Right, as I was saying, a horcrux is something like a soul…. 'container' for the lack of a better word. You may know that when your physical form perishes, your soul fades away. A horcrux allows one to live on even if their body perishes. This is how he was able to survive his own curse rebounding on him in 1981. It is a truly vile and foul piece of magic, and should never be attempted by anyone."

"How does one create a horcrux, it can't be that simple?"

"I believe by now you already know, or at least suspect how it happens."

...

"It's murder, isn't it?' he said solemnly. "He created his horcrux when he killed Myrtle, that's why the diary showed him to be 16…..."

"You are correct about when he made it. However, merely killing does not damage your soul – it is killing in cold blood, killing without remorse or any emotion that takes a toll on something as pure as a soul. Then, one needs to perform a complicated ritual immediately after the killings to transfer your essence into that object. A horcrux is also nigh impossible to destroy, only something extremely potent magically is capable of it. You were extremely fortunate basilisk venom happened to be one of them. The only other way was fiendfyre."

Once again, Harry acknowledged how lucky he had gotten, before continuing, "Wait, so if his horcrux has been destroyed, that means he is gone for good right? Not unle- " Harry paused, realizing the insinuation.

"Unless this was not his only horcrux." Salazar completed for him.

"Bu-But this is horrible! For all we know he could have turned a pebble into one and then chucked it in the lake or something!" Harry said, panicking, looking at Salazar.

"Fortunately, I do not believe that to be the case. I am someone who talked to Tom Riddle extensively for many months. In that time, I was able to get a look into his psyche. Tom was someone who had an eye for the grand, for the special. He believed himself to be gifted and important beyond all others. I do not think he would place something as 'prestigious' as a fragment of his own soul into an innocuous object like a pebble. No, they would instead be objects of extreme prestige or importance to him."

"But he made the diary a horcrux! It's not anything special!", Harry protested.

"The diary proves he is the last living descendant of Salazar Slytherin and serves as a memoir of his time at Hogwarts. Unimportant? Ha-Ha, to him, it is perhaps the single most important artefact in history! Salazar concluded boldly.

Harry conceded to the logic of the ancient wizard and moved on.

"Is there a limit how many times you can split your soul? Because if not, he could have 20 horcruxes for all we know, he did have nearly 50 years before he 'died'."

"The soul is not infinite, and neither is it copiable or regeneratable. Each horcrux would slowly change you, and irrevocably at that – once you make a horcrux, there is no going back, you will never be whole again. Tearing a part of your soul means forgoing a part of yourself."

Harry stopped Salazar here, "What do you mean 'change you' and 'forgoing a part of yourself'?"

"Tom Riddle was once an extremely handsome and charming boy, the face you described attached to Quirrell was an abomination. While he may have retained his magical prowess, he undoubtedly lost something of himself with each horcrux. His hideous face is one obvious indication. The other, and more significant in my opinion, is his change in tactics. If Tom Riddle wanted to rule over wizarding Britain, he would have done it with stealth. His reign would have begun without him needing to fire a single spell, and amidst thunderous applause in the chambers of the Wizengamot. Such was the guile of Tom Riddle….. but Voldemort is not him. They are two completely different people. Voldemort's plan to take over the world involved military might – while there was strategy and political moves, they were not his chief weapons now. Now, it was savagery, overwhelming opposition through brute force – this is something Tom Riddle would never have considered. For Tom, it was too artless – any fool with a wand and some raw power could attempt this, but how many could ever do it like HE could… like a descendant of Slytherin could…. And the answer was none. Do you SEE how unlike Tom Riddle Voldemort is? THIS is what making a horcrux does to you – it strips you of who you are and leaves a deranged FOOL behind." Salazar let the words sink in.

"At one point, attempting to make another horcrux would simply collapse your body. Riddle was aware of this. So, to answer your question, yes there is definitely a limited number of horcruxes, and I believe I can guess how many, or at least narrow it down. Based on what I told you about Riddle earlier, can you think what specific number he would choose?"

Harry looked thoughtful for a few moments, his eyebrows scrunched up, before speaking out, "You told me Riddle was one for grandeur and prestige, so I think he would choose a magically powerful number. That means he could have 3, 7, 13, 21…and so on number of horcruxes."

"You guessed correctly, well done. However, you forgot that one fragment will reside within himself, and he would want 'magically powerful' number of soul pieces. So, he would actually have 2,6, 12, 20 and so on number of horcruxes.", Salazar explained.

"Now, onto how many he made. We can safely rule out 20 and numbers beyond it. That is simply too many divisions. 12 is possible, however I am not certain of it, and neither would Riddle, so he would probably not risk going so far. I rule out 2 on the fact that that seems to be too less. This leaves the possibility of 6 horcruxes. However, this is not my only reasoning for that. 6 horcruxes, and one fragment inside of himself - this gives him a total of 7 soul pieces – the most magically powerful number. Do you see the appeal that lies within this particular number – his life is, in a way, shielded by the most potent number of all and I...yes, I believe this would have appealed to his nature. We have departed from known-fact and ventured into the realm of guesswork here, though I am confident that I am correct."

"So, to sum it up, I need to find 6- no 5 extremely well hidden and almost indestructible objects, not let their creator find out, while simultaneously being targeted by him since he seems to be unhealthily interested in me. And to top it off, I also need to stop him from returning to his physical form, as I seem to find myself at the center of his attempts to resurrect himself… Yep, I'm screwed…". Even Salazar seemed mildly amused at the predicament Harry found himself to be in.

Harry let out a tired sigh. "I need to get stronger, much stronger. I only narrowly managed to survive last time, and that too under extraordinary circumstances, I NEED to become self-reliant…"

"Yes, if only there was conveniently an ancient and knowledgeable wizard present who could teach you!"