the Gambler

On the last day of the school-leaving period, Dumbledore informed Harry to come to the last class before the holiday.The headmaster's room was quiet, except for the sound of the portrait snoring. Harry had to notice that Dumbledore had changed a bit, but he made several inquiries to no avail, and he had no intention of continuing to inquire about the old man's whereabouts.Harry handed the memory to Dumbledore, who smiled gratifiedly and poured the silver-white liquid into the Pensieve.

"Let's go," said Dumbledore cheerfully.They entered the Pensieve again, and it was the same scene.

[Young Slughorn appeared before them, ginger-haired over a shiny forehead, and his body was not as round as it is now.The man sat at the end of the long table, holding a glass of red wine that was about to overflow.Slughorn was smiling broadly, and Harry noticed that the boys on either side of him were about his own age.The handsomest of them all was Tom, who still had Morfin Gaunt's ring on his finger.

They chatted about unimportant things, and Harry noticed that people around him unconsciously turned their eyes to Tom for advice, obviously he had already gained power.And Slughorn admired his look quite a bit, too.Suddenly his memory became blurred, and Harry's sight was blocked by a thick white mist. He looked at Dumbledore suspiciously, and the other party's expression was very serious.Then the memory suddenly jumped to the time when the club ended, and the boys all walked out of the office quickly, except for Tom who waited for a chance to be alone with the professor.Slughorn seemed surprised, and urged Tom to hurry up with questions.

"Professor, I want to ask you if you know about Horcruxes?"]

Harry froze for a moment, the word sounded familiar, he had definitely seen it somewhere.

【"Horcruxes? That's not the content of Defense Against the Dark Arts. It's something very dangerous and evil. You shouldn't know about it." Slughorn narrowed his eyes and inspected Tom suspiciously. "The record of Horcruxes must be Quite an advanced book on black magic."

"I don't think that black magic is evil. You know, many ancient families have dabbled in this field. In fact, I just want to add some creative insights to Professor Melles' homework. Of course, since Now that you have said that, I can’t go on, but my curiosity will inevitably come to my mind, and if you can help me clarify my doubts, Tom will be very grateful.”

"Horcrux is to separate and hide part of a person's soul into objects. This is a way to obtain eternal life." Slughorn frowned, "But splitting the soul itself is a very painful thing, and many people would rather Die happily."

Tom's expression became suddenly excited, but Slughorn didn't notice it the whole time he kept his head down.

"How can the soul be split?"

"The cruelest way to split a man's soul is through murder," said Slughorn uneasily.

"What about sealing the soul?" Tom pretended to be curious, "Can the soul only be split once? I mean, seven is the most magical number."

"Merlin! One murder is already ridiculous!" Slughorn looked at Tom with horrified eyes, the regret in his eyes was very obvious, "This should be a forbidden topic, you have no intention of talking about it? "

"No, sir, it's just an academic discussion," said Tom calmly.

"Get out of here, I don't want to hear you mention the word Horcrux again!" Slughorn yelled, and Tom bowed gracefully and left.The eyes hidden in the middle of the hair shone with ecstasy. 】

"We can leave now," said Dumbledore, and the next moment he and Harry reappeared in the headmaster's office.

"Tom made a Horcrux." Harry was subtly unhappy, "This is also related to why Voldemort is so powerful."

"I'm glad you found this out," Dumbledore said softly. "Your guess is right, Horcruxes. This is a very rare piece of knowledge. It took me a lot of time to find information about it."

Harry frowned, he couldn't remember where he'd seen the word before.

"A horcrux is an object that holds part of a person's soul, both the diary and Gaunt's ring," said Dumbledore. "I would venture to guess that Voldemort had at least more than one horcrux. In the wizarding world, seven is a powerful number. Tom, who admires magic so much, is likely to choose this. But first, I need to determine the answer."

"If we can't find all the Horcruxes, there's no way to completely wipe out Voldemort?" Harry quickly grasped the meaning of the words.

"Yes."

The fire in the fireplace burned brighter.Dumbledore was silent for a moment.

"Since we all know about Horcruxes, the next step is to confirm that Voldemort used those items." Dumbledore took out two small bottles containing silver-white liquid from his arms, "These are two very important memories, I I hope you will take a good look. First of all, it comes from a house-elf called Hotkey, who served an old and wealthy family, and the last owner was called Hepbazz Smith."

Dumbledore stretched out his hand to signal Harry to go in first, the boy buried his whole head in the water, and the next moment he appeared in the luxuriously decorated room, Voldemort was bending over to kiss the wrinkled hand of the old witch, and the witch made a sweet giggle .Voldemort straightened, and Harry noticed that he had grown handsomer and paler.

【"I want to show you my private treasure." Smith smiled and ordered Hao Qi to bring two beautifully packaged boxes, which contained an exquisite gold cup and a locket respectively.A red light flashed in Voldemort's eyes, but the witch didn't notice that she was completely fascinated by the man's handsome face.

"The Hufflepuff Cup and the Slytherin Locket," Voldemort said softly, and Harry could see the raging emotions hidden beneath the mask of calm. 】

"She died two days later. The Ministry of Magic ruled that Hao Qi poisoned her mistress and threw her into Azkaban. Later, Tom Riddle disappeared from Borgin-Bock." Dumbledore suddenly He said, "That's right, Tom killed Hepbuzz Smith and tampered with Hao Qi's memory."

"Those two things are Voldemort's Horcruxes. He has always had an unusual fascination with ancient and noble blood." Harry said firmly, "plus Gaunt's ring and diary, there are already four clear. "

"You're very clever, Harry, so I don't think it's hard to guess the other one."

"Ravenclaw's crown and Gryffindor's sword, the latter has been kept in the sorting hat, so the only option left is the crown." Harry thought for a moment, "but I don't know where they will be now .”

"Keep thinking, Harry, there is still a Horcrux—" Dumbledore fell into thought, his eyebrows raised high, and the creases on his face were squeezed together.Dumbledore kept pulling his snow-white beard, and under his thick eyebrows, he looked at the boy kindly: "In fact, I have paid attention to his family, the behavior of that big snake Nagini for a long time."

"A living thing can also be made into a Horcrux?" Harry said in surprise, "That's too dangerous, Nagini will die, right? Then the meaning of Horcrux's existence will be lost."

"My assumption is that Voldemort found a way to prolong her life, and he often took her with him. He is not a credulous person." Dumbledore tapped the table with his intact palm, "As for the hiding place, let me Just to give you a hint, Voldemort doesn't keep Horcruxes in one place, the diary was kept by Abraxas Malfoy and later passed on to Lucius Malfoy."

"His Death Eaters."

"I also have the same conjecture." Dumbledore suddenly turned the topic in another direction, "When you told me that Voldemort regained his appearance and was no longer as crazy as before, I had a few thoughts."

"what?"

"He went to the Gaunt Ring. In fact, Charlie Weasley, whom I planted at Gringotts, found out that Bellatrix Lestrange had been in and out of the family vault and produced a small package. I've looked at Charlie's memory, and I'm sure it's wrapped in the same dark protective magic."

"Do you think it's a Horcrux?" Harry's heart skipped a beat suddenly. He remembered that he had seen this term in the ancient book on the soul mate summoning ceremony that Tom took out. He couldn't even imagine the answer and just let it go. in front of myself.He glanced over his shoulder at Dumbledore, who was watching the memory so carefully that he didn't notice his change of mood, and Harry let out a long sigh of relief.

Dumbledore nodded: "I'm assuming he found other Horcruxes as well. Maybe he re-absorbed Soul Slices, I don't know how he did it, nor how many he absorbed. Well, don't delay you Pack time, we've got all holiday to think about it. Merry Christmas, Harry."

"Merry Christmas, sir." Harry had already put his hand on the doorknob, he suddenly turned his head and asked, "Are there any books about Horcruxes in Hogwarts?"

"No, I'm sure." Dumbledore's bright blue eyes twinkled, "Is there anything you need to tell me?"

"I saw that book, the book that records Horcruxes."

Harry couldn't recover from the shock for a long time, understanding the boy's emotions, Dumbledore changed the subject easily, and Harry noticed that all the portraits had their ears up: "Would you mind telling me, what do you have for Tom?" What do you think?"

Harry frowned. "A powerful, cruel, ambitious man? He killed the only family he had left, and also Myrtle, with absolutely no remorse."

"No, Harry, I'm asking the present Tom, not Voldemort."

"I don't see how this question has anything to do with our lessons, sir," said Harry quietly, and he could hear Felix Black snorting softly in the portrait.The Headmaster had never liked Harry very much.

"Tom has a deep affection for Hogwarts, he regards it as his home, and he has twice applied to be the new Defense Against the Dark Arts professor. If you remember, in the memory provided by Horace, Tom mentioned When it came to Professor Mellors at the time, yes, he had plans to get a job at that time. For him, there were many secrets hidden in Hogwarts, and it influenced the younger generation of wizards to become their own His subordinates are his purpose."

"But you turned him down."

"The first time was rejected by Headmaster Dippet because Tom was only too young for the professorship, even though he was the brightest wizard in years. The second time he was rejected by me, I I think you must have noticed that the teaching staff in this position changes very quickly," Dumbledore pushed back his glasses. "He cursed the position."

The thought of Tom doing something like this didn't surprise Harry too much.After all, it was Tom, and his narrow-mindedness was unmatched by most people.

"You are not surprised. It seems that you do know him very well."

"Yes, sir."

"Tom seldom shows his true emotions. As far as I know, he only loves two things, one is Hogwarts and the other is you." Dumbledore paused, his eyes long on Harry's face .

Harry took a few steps back in panic, he had the feeling that the headmaster had seen through him.

Dumbledore waved his hands seeing Harry's panicked expression: "No, I didn't mean to condemn you. Love is an elusive thing."