demon hunter at hogwarts

After viewing Slughorn's memories, Regulus and Dumbledore agreed that Voldemort had already produced the Horcruxes and was just asking the knowledgeable Potions Professor for confirmation.

Poor Slughorn had always mistakenly believed that it was his guidance that made Voldemort want to make Horcruxes, and he was frightened for decades.

But Voldemort's approach was indeed too radical and extreme.

Regulus had never imagined that someone would try to cut his soul into seven pieces.

"No wonder the Riddle in the locket doesn't look so smart..." He whispered to himself.

"What did you say?" Dumbledore asked curiously.

"Nothing... I mean, since the Dark Lord made Slytherin's locket into a Horcrux, does it mean that he might have found the other missing relics of the founder a long time ago? ?" Regulus changed his words and put forward his conjecture.

"We have the same idea on this point." Dumbledore walked to a cabinet and opened the door. There was a row of crystal bottles neatly placed inside.

Regulus could tell at a glance that the silver-white thread-like substances floating in the bottle were memories.

"After you showed me the locket, I started a secret investigation. It is not easy to find these clues. Many of the people involved have died long ago..." Dumbledore pointed to several bottles in turn and said helplessly, "With clues like these, I can no longer proceed halfway through. I can only find another way."

The old principal's finger rested on a bottle.

"I can only confirm that what was stolen along with the locket was indeed Hufflepuff's golden cup... Do you remember what you said from Borgin? I got inspiration from there and avoided many detours. "Dumbledore took the bottle and poured the pearly, sparkling and swirling memories inside into the pensieve.

After the crystal bottle was emptied, Dumbledore used his wand to stir the rippling silver substance in the basin. A face appeared in the pensieve, that of an overly plump lady.

"Wait...I've seen this person before." Regulus stared at the person in the basin, his mind already starting to spin rapidly.

"Have you seen it?" Dumbledore looked a little surprised. "This is a bit outrageous. I got this memory 30 years ago, before you were born at that time."

"Her name is Hepzibah Smith, right?" Regulus asked tentatively.

"That's right...can you tell me how you met her? I'm not sure if the Black family and the Smith family have any relationship..." Dumbledore

"In fact, there is really no intersection. I only found out this morning that she is actually a distant descendant of Hufflepuff. However, considering that my ancestors have never had much affection for Hufflepuffs... this Things are considered normal." Regulus rubbed his temples, as if he was sorting out his thoughts, "When I was destroying the soul fragment of Riddle, I accidentally found some broken memories, including this person."

"Have you seen a fragment of Riddle's memory?"

Dumbledore's tone changed.

Regulus was convinced that this was the first time he had seen unconscious expressions of emotion from this old man who always seemed calm and intelligent.

"I understand your feelings, but it's a pity that what I saw were all broken fragments." Regulus said regretfully, "Some...his daily life in school is just like ordinary students, and it doesn't have much value. And you can’t see clearly further forward.”

Dumbledore opened his mouth as if he wanted to say something, but hesitated.

"The clearest memory in the soul fragment is that he casually killed a Muggle homeless man and used the murder to make the locket Horcrux." Regulus said, "As for this poor man Madam, I didn't see the complete incident, but I think her ending shouldn't be too...happy."

"I'm a little impatient... It's easy to understand. Of course, a broken soul cannot have a complete memory." Dumbledore returned to his usual speaking tone, "However, your statement does corroborate what I have always suspected. … Let’s look at this memory in its entirety, in order to experience it more intuitively.”

So, Regulus plunged into the Pensieve again.

That's a living room.

Wearing a ginger wig and a pink robe, Hepzibah Smith was putting on makeup, and at her feet, a house elf who was much older and thinner than Kreacher was fastening the buckles of her shoes. .

The room was very crowded, and Hepzibah Smith's huge body took up a small amount of space. Regulus was glad that he had no body and would not encounter those things growing in the copper vessels while walking back and forth. Weird and lush plants.

Regulus looked at Hepzibah's display cabinet, which was filled with all kinds of gadgets, but at the bottom were two pots of devil's net.

He speculated that if anyone touched the ornaments without permission, they would be mercilessly attacked by the devil's net.

The doorbell rang, and Hepzibah and the elf Hao Qi both jumped up.

Soon, a tall, handsome young man with black hair in a black suit walked into the room, it was Tom Riddle.

"If I hadn't seen it with my own eyes, no matter who told me, I would never believe it... The Dark Lord actually worked in Borgin and Burke's store." Regulus sighed helplessly, "I don't dare at all. Imagine how Bella would react if she knew about this."

"According to my investigation, during his tenure, Voldemort was often sent to persuade others to hand over those rare treasures to the store for sale." Dumbledore also smiled, "This is not something ordinary store clerks can do, but Voldemort Very good at this kind of thing... But then, Borgin destroyed all the work logs related to Tom Riddle."

"I understand this very well." Regulus agreed.

The memory was still playing. Hepzibah obviously had an unusual fondness for Voldemort, and those conversations and actions made Regulus extremely embarrassed.

He admired Voldemort a little, because if it were him, he would definitely not be able to say certain words.

But soon, Voldemort's efforts paid off.

In order to win his favor, Hepzibah took the initiative to place his family heirloom, Hufflepuff's golden cup, in front of Voldemort.

"She is already dead." Regulus judged regretfully. "If Hufflepuff knew that her distant descendant was so careless, I'm afraid... and she didn't actually know how to use the golden cup, she just hid it and ate it. Ash."

"Obviously, Voldemort thinks so too. He thinks it is a waste to have the founder's relics in the hands of Lady Hepzibah. You must have noticed his expression." Dumbledore said.

Unfortunately, Hepzibah did not notice the greed on Voldemort's face, so she made the second fatal mistake, showing Slytherin's locket to Voldemort.

When the box containing the locket was opened, Voldemort's eyes immediately widened.

Hepzibah showed off her collection: "...I paid a good price for this thing, but I couldn't pass up the opportunity to add it to my collection. Bock bought it from a shabby woman, who was probably Where did you steal it? I don’t know the true value of this thing... I dare say Bock didn’t give her much money. Do you see how beautiful it is? It is said that it also has various magic powers, but I just kept it safely..."

Valley</span>Regulus stared at Voldemort in fascination, while Voldemort stared at the locket intently, his eyes glowing red and the knuckles of his fingers turned white.

Now, even Hepzibah noticed something was wrong.

"Are you okay, honey?"

"It's okay...I'm fine." Voldemort said quietly.

The memory faded and Regulus returned to Dumbledore's office.

"Hepzibah Smith died two days after this, and the cause of death was drinking a cup of highly poisonous cocoa tea." Dumbledore said calmly, "The Ministry of Magic determined that it was the house elf Hooch who was responsible for her death. The drink was poisoned."

"That's impossible." Regulus retorted immediately, "A house elf would never murder his master."

Dumbledore gave him a slightly surprised look.

"Kreacher will never harm me anyway," Regulus said. "I believe that other elves will treat their master like this."

"But Hao Qi admitted that she added something to the master's cocoa tea, and later found out that it was not sugar, but poison." Dumbledore came up with another conclusion.

"This doesn't mean anything. That's Voldemort. It's not easy for him to modify an elf's memory!" Regulus waved his arm, obviously very dissatisfied with the hasty judgment of the Ministry of Magic.

"I can only say that if those officials from the Ministry of Magic were as sensible as you, things would be much simpler." Dumbledore smiled happily, "We can be sure that Voldemort knows about the cup and the locket. We all know what happened next. Tom Riddle, the ablest clerk at Borgin & Burke's, suddenly resigned and disappeared for a long time."

"Bogin said that the cup and the locket were stolen. The locket was made into a Horcrux." Regulus concluded, "If Professor Slughorn's memory is true, then the gold cup must be It’s also a Horcrux, and I’m glad to know that we have one more thing we’re looking for.”

"That's it." Dumbledore spread his hands to indicate that the matter was settled.

But Regulus had no intention of leaving immediately.

"Is there anything else?" The old principal smiled kindly.

"You said you obtained this memory 30 years ago. So, you knew from then on that...this Tom Riddle might become a terrible guy? And then you started collecting clues about him?" Lei Gu Les asked with emotion, "Mr. Principal... I don't know how to evaluate you."

"It's just a feeling." Dumbledore sat up straight, touching the fingertips of his hands habitually, and replied calmly, "But my feelings are usually accurate, and I'm not bragging."

Regulus took a deep look at the old principal and left the office.

After New Year's Day, students return to school one after another, preparing to start the new semester.

One day, after breakfast, Regulus was about to go upstairs to his office when he found Tonks. Her foot was stuck in a teasing step and she couldn't get it out.

"I don't know if anyone has reminded you that if you want to officially become an Auror, you need to pass a series of tests, including stealth and tracking." Regulus said in a heavy tone while rescuing Tonks, " If you remain as careless as you are now, I don’t think much of your dreams coming true.”

"Thank you...I'll pay attention..." Tonks blushed and said ashamedly.

Regulus was about to leave, but Tonks stopped him.

"Uncle...Sir, I like the looking glass you gave me very much, but it has been barking since I returned to Hogwarts."

"Of course it is, because the school is full of students preparing pranks or making up lies to cope with homework they can't turn in," Regulus explained.

Tonks smiled, but Regulus added seriously: "This does not mean that it will not warn you when you are in real danger. Use it properly."

After returning to the office, Regulus flipped through today's issue of the Daily Prophet.

On the front page, a shocking news was written in bold font.

Director of the Department of International Cooperation at the Ministry of Magic announces his resignation

Below is a large photo of Barty Crouch.

The famous wizard, former Director of the Legal Enforcement Department of the Ministry of Magic, and current Director of the International Cooperation Department of the Ministry of Magic, Mr. Barty Crouch, recently issued a statement that due to health reasons, he will resign from all positions in the Ministry of Magic. Announced retirement.

For the specific content, our special correspondent Rita Skeeter will continue to report in the near future.

On the second page, there is an interview from Bertha Jorkins, a staff member of the Ministry of Magic.

Seeing the photo, Regulus thought of Bertha Jorkins, the witch he met by chance in the Leaky Cauldron that day, following Barty Crouch.

"...About three months ago, when those foreign wizards entered the country in large numbers, I noticed that Mr. Crouch's mental condition was deteriorating. I had never seen him distracted at work before..."

"...Before Halloween, he would still guide me in my work through emails, but after that, I sent him seven or eight letters before I could get a reply. And in the past two weeks, I never got a reply from him again. , it turns out that he has decided to resign..."

Regulus placed the newspaper on the table.

Rufus Scrimgeour, Head of the Auror Office, mentioned this casually during Halloween.

Could it be that Barty Crouch felt that his future was hopeless after seeing Amelia Bones return to the Department of Legal Enforcement of the Ministry of Magic, and announced the termination of his political career out of frustration?

He had no interest in Crouch's ideas.

The top priority now is to find Hufflepuff's golden cup, which is no easy task.

In the beginning, if Kreacher hadn't been recruited by Voldemort and remembered the location where the Horcrux was hidden, Regulus felt that he would never be able to find that remote cave.