The Admiral of Hogwarts

"Oh, right, you're Professor Dumbledore's apprentice, so it's normal for you to have basilisk fangs." Looking at the blade obviously made from the teeth of some animal, Dumbledore paused for a moment, then recognized the thing in Hugo's hand.

"That's right, basilisk venom is one of the few things that can destroy Horcruxes. You can take this and stay to the side; if anything happens here, you can take action."

The reason Dumbledore arranged for Hugo, rather than Sirius, to carry out this task was simple. Compared to Sirius, who was usually more impulsive, the headmaster was more willing to trust a young, professional alchemist.

Especially when dealing with something as bizarre as a Horcrux, an alchemist was obviously more suited to the task. Besides, Hugo should know how to handle these things.

After completing all the preparations, Hugo first activated the magic circle arranged around the locket. As a barrier with a silvery sheen rose, the locket suddenly trembled slightly.

Clearly, Voldemort's Horcrux had always maintained awareness of the outside world and could respond to various situations.

Come to think of it, a Horcrux was, after all, a piece cut from Voldemort's soul, capable of becoming a new life form under the right conditions. So, it's normal for it to react in this way.

Of course, the principle of conservation of energy also exists in the wizarding world. In the original story, an important reason why the locket was so powerful, even severely affecting the wearer's soul, was that it absorbed part of Harry and his friends' souls.

So, theoretically, this locket, which had been in the cabinet at Sirius's house for a dozen or twenty years and had only been in contact with house-elves, shouldn't be too strong overall.

"This thing looks even more dangerous than I thought. We really need to destroy it as soon as possible." Looking at the trembling locket, Dumbledore first frowned, then turned to Harry and Hugo and said:

"Harry, I'll count to three, and then you use Parseltongue to open the locket. Then I'll cast a spell to destroy the piece of Voldemort's soul hidden inside."

"Hugo, if I happen to be trapped for some reason, then you use your basilisk fang dagger to stab whatever is exposed inside the locket."

"Understood." Hugo and Harry nodded at the same time in agreement, and then each prepared themselves.

"Then, let's begin." After Hugo and Harry both confirmed that they were ready, Dumbledore began to act. "One… Two… Three… Harry!" Dumbledore raised the Elder Wand in his hand, pointed it at the Horcrux, and shouted loudly.

Upon receiving Dumbledore's command, Harry immediately roared at the locket in Parseltongue: "Open!"

The small golden lid of the locket clicked open. Behind two small glass windows, there were living eyes blinking, dark and bright, like Tom Riddle's eyes before they turned red and his pupils became slits.

Eerie black mist emerged from the locket, and Hugo immediately felt immense pressure coming from the magic circle. The evil power belonging to this pressure even broke through part of the magic circle's defense and leaked out.

"I see your heart, Albus Dumbledore." At this moment, a voice hissed from the Horcrux. The defenses Voldemort designed into the locket began to operate.

Voldemort still had a bit of reverence for his ancestor's relic, so he didn't completely rewrite the locket and its internal magical structure.

However, he didn't do nothing. Now it seems that the piece of soul inside the locket was made to have an offensive effect, attacking the weakest aspect of the soul of anyone attacking the Horcrux.

In fact, this situation can be seen in the original story. Whether it was the diary controlling Ginny in the second year or the locket sowing discord among Harry, Ron, and Hermione in the seventh year, these Horcruxes showed active aggression.

And this locket should be the most aggressive of these Horcruxes. Relying on the Slytherin locket's own defenses, the piece of soul inside could completely focus on attack.

"You are an unfortunate man, longing for a happy and harmonious family but never getting it. You abandoned your close friend and killed your sister. And you let your only living relative refuse to acknowledge you, even when she was close at hand."

"You are not as noble as you now portray yourself. Everything you do is just to atone for your sins, but even so, everything you have lost will never return, Albus Dumbledore!"

From the two small windows of the locket, from those eyes, a bizarre, soap bubble-like thing emerged. Soon, this thing rose from the locket and transformed into the image of a young girl.

Hugo had seen this person before. It was Dumbledore's deceased sister, and a permanent scar in his heart, Ariana. This greatly affected Dumbledore. Hugo could see tears streaming down his cheeks.

"Seal –" Realizing that this piece of soul was attacking Dumbledore's weaknesses, Hugo immediately strengthened the defensive magic circle at the cost of consuming the magic circle's power.

Fortunately, this locket wasn't the Resurrection Stone ring, and its impact on Professor Dumbledore wasn't as great as he had imagined. So, after Hugo created a wave of magical fluctuations using the magic circle, the headmaster quickly recovered.

The headmaster gently flicked his wand, and a blue flame filled with destructive power flew from the tip of the Elder Wand and struck the locket in front of him.

Hugo first saw a flash of blue light, then heard a "ting" of metal colliding from the direction of the locket, followed by a slight explosion.

Accompanying the explosion was a long, soul-piercing scream. Hugo subconsciously cast a defensive spell on himself and Harry, but this Horcrux didn't have a last-ditch attack as he had imagined.

Ariana's illusion disappeared, and everything in the room returned to normal, leaving only Dumbledore standing there with his wand in his hand, looking down at the locket on the cabinet.

Hugo's gaze also turned to the locket. He found that the glass of the two small windows inside the locket had become blurred due to the brief burning of the Fiendfyre, and the eerie eyes were gone. Wisps of light smoke rose from the locket's colorful silk lining.

The piece of Voldemort's remaining soul preserved in the locket was indeed destroyed by Headmaster Dumbledore, and the oppressive feeling in the room dissipated completely.

"Professor?" Harry asked with some concern, watching Professor Dumbledore standing there motionless. Dumbledore heard this, wiped his face with his hand, and straightened his body.

"Don't worry, I'm fine." Headmaster Dumbledore gently shook his hand and said, "You should have heard it just now, the regrets left in my heart by the mistakes I made when I was young."

"This –" Hugo and Harry exchanged glances and saw the awkward expressions on each other's faces, because they didn't know what to do at this time, so they could only remain silent.

"It's okay, you don't need to worry about anything." Dumbledore comforted them, seeing their nervous expressions:

"There's nothing about my past that can't be known by others. You've rarely heard about it only because I'm relatively old, and most of the people who know these things are no longer here."

"If you are willing to listen, I would be happy to share these experiences with you, so that you can avoid some detours –"