Harry Potter and the Secret Treasures - H.P.S.T Chapter 1461: Seven Horcruxes

For Evan, who could clearly sense these changes, it all felt very strange. Except for him who was the witness of the change of time, no one else — even those involved — could perceive the shift. Only Evan knew that this world was no longer the same as before.

Others only knew that Voldemort was becoming more evil and powerful, but they did not know that this was a change that was never supposed to happen.

“You should go back, Tom, time…” Slughorn reminded again.

“Sorry, sir, I have a few last questions about Horcruxes,” said Riddle, snapping out of his thoughts. “What I’d like to know — just out of curiosity — I mean, would one Horcrux be much use? Can you only split your soul once? Wouldn’t it be better, make you stronger, to have your soul in more pieces, I mean, for instance, isn’t seven the most powerfully magical number, wouldn’t seven — ?”

“Merlin’s beard, Tom!” yelped Slughorn, truly frightened by this question. “Seven! Isn’t it bad enough to think of killing one person? And in any case … bad enough to divide the soul … but to rip it into seven pieces …”

Slughorn looked deeply troubled now: He was gazing at Riddle as though he had never seen him plainly before.

It was obvious that he was regretting entering into the conversation at all.

At this point, Slughorn finally realized that something was wrong. Riddle’s intentions weren’t just academic curiosity.

Anyone who wanted to split his soul into seven pieces was either a fool who didn’t know what he was talking about or a madman who had fallen beyond redemption. And Tom Riddle, in every way, belonged to the latter.

“Of course,” he muttered, “this is all hypothetical, what we’re discussing, isn’t it, Tom? All academic …”

“Yes, sir, of course,” said Riddle quickly.

“But all the same, Tom … keep it quiet, what I’ve told — that’s to say, what we’ve discussed. People wouldn’t like to think we’ve been chatting about Horcruxes. It’s a banned subject at Hogwarts, you know. … Dumbledore’s particularly fierce about it. …”

“Don’t worry, sir, I won’t say a word,” said Riddle, and he left.

He turned around, and from that direction, Evan, Harry, and Dumbledore could see his face, which was full of that same wild happiness it had worn when he had first found out that he was a wizard, the sort of happiness that did not enhance his handsome features, but made them, somehow, less human. …

“Thank you, Evan, Harry,” said Dumbledore quietly. “Let us go. …”

When Evan and Harry landed back on the office floor Dumbledore was already sitting down behind his desk.

The two of them sat too, and before Dumbledore spoke, Evan said, “Sir, Voldemort made seven Horcruxes.”

“Yes. I suspected that number from the beginning. As Riddle said, seven is the most powerfully magical number. In fact, I have been hoping for this piece of evidence for a long time,” said Dumbledore. “It confirms the theory on which I have been working, it tells me that I am right. …”

“The Gaunt family ring, Riddle’s Diary, Slytherin’s Locket, Hufflepuff’s Golden Cup, Ravenclaw’s Diadem, the statue of the evil god…” Evan listed them one by one, naming Voldemort’s Horcruxes.   

He noticed that every single one of the old headmasters and headmistresses in the portraits around the walls was awake and listening in on their conversation. A corpulent, red-nosed wizard had actually taken out an ear trumpet.

“That’s already six. The last one is the one we don’t know,” said Evan in conclusion.

Of course, he did know what the last Horcrux was — but he couldn’t say it because that Horcrux was Harry Potter!

Harry Potter was the final Horcrux out of Voldemort’s seven — one that had come into existence by accident.

In Evan’s opinion, how to destroy this Horcrux was the most difficult problem, and he had no good solution until now.

Because, it meant that Harry had to die!

Better to leave that task to Dumbledore — teach Harry how to face death properly, and how to die… and come back to life. …

“Maybe he hasn’t had time to make the last Horcrux. We already know that Voldemort did not choose random objects to house his soul, but chose those items that were related to the history of Hogwarts,” Dumbledore paused for a moment and continued, “Of course, he may have made the seventh Horcrux, using some object or method we don’t know…”

He glanced briefly at Harry and changed the subject.

“In fact, Evan, Harry, the memory we just saw is very important. The number of Horcruxes Voldemort wanted to make is only one of the significant points. I am sure you understood the significance of what we just heard. At the same age as you are now, give or take a few months, Tom Riddle was doing all he could to find out how to make himself immortal.”

“He obviously succeeded. He did not die when he attacked me,” said Harry, noticing the look Dumbledore was looking at him, but didn’t think much about it. “Because he created multiple Horcruxes, even being hit by Avada Kedavra didn’t kill him.”

“Yes, that is precisely the function of a Horcrux. As long as even one fragment of the soul is safe, he cannot die,” said Dumbledore. “As Evan just listed, there are currently six confirmed Horcruxes, including the statue of the evil god, which was made more recently. One remains uncertain. That means before his last defeat and escape, Voldemort had already created at least five Horcruxes — an astonishing number. We all heard Voldemort: What he particularly wanted from Horace was an opinion on what would happen to the wizard who created more than one Horcrux, what would happen to the wizard so determined to evade death that he would be prepared to murder many times, rip his soul repeatedly, so as to store it in many, separately concealed Horcruxes. No book would have given him that information. As far as I know — as far, I am sure, as Voldemort knew — no wizard had ever done more than tear his soul in two, not even the inventor of this magic, Herpo the Foul.”

“That’s not because it couldn’t be done, but because no one dared to do it — it’s a bold and insane idea,” said Evan.

Even now, with the emergence of darker and more evil entities like the evil gods, thinking back on this, he still found Voldemort terrifying.

This terror wasn’t just about his cruelty toward enemies — it was about the unimaginable cruelty he inflicted upon himself.

To split one’s soul again and again… that level of evil, that level of pain, that torment — just imagining it was enough to paralyze a person with fear.

Many Dark wizards, even those evil to the core, might consider making a Horcrux, but they would never even think of making more than one — let alone seven.

Dumbledore paused for a moment, marshaling his thoughts, and then said, “In fact, as early as when he came back to me again to seek the position of Defense Against the Dark Arts professor, I had already suspected that Voldemort had made a Horcrux. His soul state was extremely unstable at the time. Even without testing, I could feel it just by sitting there, but there was no direct proof. Until four years ago, when the two of you handed the diary to me, Riddle’s diary, the one giving instructions on how to reopen the Chamber of Secrets, I was finally able to confirm that Voldemort had split his soul. …”

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