Chapter 1226 Not far from death
Since the last broadcast, the number of students who want to join the "Defense Association" has suddenly increased for some reason.
Perhaps, for most students, it is necessary to learn some useful skills in this chaotic era. No one knows how long the Second Wizarding War will last.
As for who to favor in this war?
Probably no one except the Slytherin students really had to think about this.
Because they had only two choices: fight against Voldemort, or remain neutral.
As for falling to Voldemort, no one would be willing to die unless they have a brain defect or have been controlled by the Imperius Curse.
Looking at the number of Dark wizards currently killed by Aurors of the Ministry of Magic, one can tell with one's knees that joining Voldemort's camp has no future.
Moreover, due to Albert's intervention, the Ministry of Magic played an active role in combating dark wizards, causing wizarding families that might have remained neutral in the past to involuntarily turn against the mysterious man.
It’s not that they don’t want to remain neutral, but that after Scrimgeour built the shelter, many wizards felt a sense of crisis.
Since we are fighting against dark wizards and confronting mysterious people, we naturally have to choose a good place.
The Order of the Phoenix formed by Dumbledore is the best choice. After all, Dumbledore's reputation is outstanding and everyone is willing to gather around him. However, it is not easy to join the Order of the Phoenix, and there are few ways.
As for joining the crisis response team of the Ministry of Magic, there are certain thresholds. After all, you are likely to directly face dark wizards during your duty, which carries great risks.
The "Defense Association", which pays more attention to protecting everyone's safety, has naturally become the first priority of many people.
No matter how you look at it, Albert is a very competent leader. After joining the Defense Association, he not only taught everyone how to protect themselves, but also did not require everyone to fight against the mysterious man, but only hoped that they would secretly support Harry Potter.
As a result, more people secretly expressed to Harry that they wanted to join the Defense Association.
This made Harry feel inexplicably irritated, and in the end it was Hermione who helped record the list.
“I really don’t understand, why do they all like to join the Defense Association? If it were me, I would definitely join the Order of the Phoenix.”
Ron stared at the long list and couldn't help asking his doubts.
"They only know how to join the Defense Association, and most of them just want to become peripheral members and do not want to be truly involved in this war." Hermione put away the list and looked at Harry, a little worried about the other party's situation.
“It’s okay, I’m just a little depressed.”
"What are you depressed about?" Ron asked puzzledly, "Because everyone is rushing to join the Defense Association? Maybe you can ask Dumbledore to see if the Order of the Phoenix is recruiting new people."
"I originally thought that my defense against dark arts was pretty good, but after listening to the broadcast that day, I suddenly realized that I was no different from anyone else." Harry was indeed very depressed. He suddenly realized that he was just a rookie at best. Just have more experience and master more magic than others.
This makes him seem to be better than others, but in fact, others are really bad.
Ron and Hermione looked at each other, not knowing how to comfort Harry.
"Okay, it's almost time. I have to go to class." Harry took out his pocket watch and checked the time, then went directly to the principal's office.
Dumbledore looked at Harry, who remained silent after entering the office, and asked, "You seem unhappy."
"I don't think it's possible to convince Professor Slughorn to hand over that memory!" Harry said unconfidently.
“It’s important that you believe in yourself and have confidence in yourself, Harry.”
Dumbledore motioned for Harry to sit down, and then conjured a cup of butterbeer out of thin air and placed it in front of Harry.
"I plan to try to get Professor Slughorn drunk on April 28th, which is Professor Slughorn's birthday, and make him hand over that memory." Harry lowered his voice and said his plan: "Although I have never I haven't mentioned the Horcrux thing before Professor Slughorn, and I will take Felixir when the time comes, but I still can't be sure whether the plan will succeed. I always feel that Professor Slughorn seems to have seen through me. Purpose."
Dumbledore looked at Harry, whose face was gloomy and fell silent. He found that the boy in front of him seemed to be under a lot of pressure.
"You should have confidence in your plan." He comforted: "It doesn't matter if you fail, you still have time, so don't feel pressured and do it according to your own ideas."
However, these words did not have much comforting effect in the end, because this matter still needed Harry to complete it, and it must not fail. It was obviously impossible to say that there was no pressure in his heart.
Harry never had the same confidence in himself as Dumbledore, and the pressure fell on him, making him breathless.
“Sir, what shall we learn today?”
He took a deep breath and changed the topic.
"Let's talk about some topics that definitely interest you." Dumbledore didn't seem to want to let him see someone's memory. Instead, he smiled and picked up the milk tea, as if he was planning to chat with Harry.
"What topic?" Harry asked with a slightly raised eyebrow, "It must be related to Horcruxes."
"right."
Dumbledore opened the drawer of the principal's desk and took out the remains of several Horcruxes that Harry had seen in his memory.
"Sir, how many Horcruxes have you destroyed so far?" Harry looked at the remains of the Horcruxes on the table and said to himself, "Riddle's diary, Marvolo Gaunt's ring, And Slytherin's locket."
"Is this the Horcrux that Albert helped find?" Harry's eyes fell on the locket.
"Yes, the situation is a bit complicated. Slytherin's pendant was originally hidden in No. 12 Grimmauld Place." Dumbledore picked up the remains of the pendant and fell into a brief memory. "Later, he was taken out of order by Mundungus. No. 12, Place de Rimo, and planned to find an opportunity to sell it secretly, but I was lucky enough to find the pendant before Mundungus sold it."
"I think it probably had something to do with Kreacher, but Sirius killed it and it became a mystery, but at least we were lucky enough to find it and destroy it completely."
"If Voldemort has seven Horcruxes, this means there are four left." Harry glanced at the remains of the Horcruxes on the table and murmured.
"No, Harry, if Voldemort divided his soul into seven parts, then one of them must be his main soul, so he would only create six Horcruxes." Dumbledore corrected.
"This is really good news. It means that Voldemort only has three Horcruxes left." Harry's mood suddenly became happy, which meant that they were one step closer to completing the destruction of all Horcruxes.
"Among them, one must be Hufflepuff's golden cup, and the remaining two are probably relics of other Hogwarts founders. I think the legendary Ravenclaw crown is very suspicious. Do you know the whereabouts of the crown? Perhaps, we can consider asking Albert to help us divine the location of the crown, maybe he can really help us find it."
With that said, Harry suddenly looked up at Dumbledore, remembering that the other party had said that he would take him to find the Horcruxes, and he couldn't help but wonder if Dumbledore had predicted the location of Ravenclaw's diadem through Albert.
This means that the last Horcrux left is unknown.
"Perhaps, we can seek help from ghosts in the school, such as...Professor Binns, I remember him as the ghost from Gryffindor's time, maybe he has heard some rumors."
"Your idea is very good." Dumbledore said happily, "However, I have already found the sixth Horcrux, which is the snake named Nagini beside Voldemort."
"Snake? Living creatures can also be used as Horcruxes." Harry was very surprised.
"It's really unexpected." Dumbledore said with a smile. "Fortunately, when I went to Crouch's house last time, I accidentally killed the snake named Nagini."
"So, we only need to find the remaining two Horcruxes now?" Harry was so happy that he almost jumped up, which meant that as long as the last two Horcruxes were destroyed, Voldemort would be close to death.
What's more, Dumbledore also agreed to take him to find the Horcrux, which meant that the last Horcrux was still missing.
"In addition to the golden cup, there is one last remaining Horcrux that is suspected to be Ravenclaw's Diadem." Harry suddenly thought of something, suddenly looked up at Dumbledore and asked: "Since you have determined that Voldemort will take the soul." Divide it into seven parts, why insist on getting that part of the memory from Professor Slughorn?"
"I need it to confirm my speculation. It is very unreliable to rely solely on speculation." Dumbledore took a sip of milk tea and said calmly, "Our enemy is Voldemort. Once the number of Horcruxes is wrong, it may All our efforts will be in vain.”
"But why do you think Voldemort only divided his soul into seven parts?" Harry asked his doubts again. Dumbledore obviously did not tell him everything, but he was sure that it was not just Albert. prophecy.
“But what if Voldemort split his soul into eight parts?” Harry hypothesized, “I mean, if he split his soul into more than seven parts, wouldn’t our efforts be in vain?”
Dumbledore glanced at the lightning scar on Harry's forehead and explained softly, "Seven is the most special and magical number among all numbers. I think Voldemort must know this."
Harry said nothing and continued to listen to Dumbledore.
"In the entire history of the wizarding world, no wizard has split his soul into more than two pieces." Dumbledore said calmly, "I think Voldemort should be the first. He must have realized that dividing the soul will lead to It becomes unstable, even if you only make one Horcrux."
“So, Voldemort divided the soul into seven parts in order to maintain the stability of the soul?” Harry felt incredible.
"Perhaps, he also wants to use this to enhance his own power." Dumbledore said softly, "But it is undeniable that his idea is actually correct. Seven is indeed a magic number."
"But... we have destroyed four of Voldemort's Horcruxes, which should not satisfy the number seven, but his power shows no sign of decline." Harry asked again for his unique insight.
“Voldemort was known to be afraid of death.”
"I mean, if Voldemort finds that all his Horcruxes have been destroyed by us, will he take the risk and try to divide his soul and create a new Horcrux?"
"You have ignored the role of an intact soul, Harry." Dumbledore shook his head. "There is value in keeping an intact soul."
"I don't think Voldemort would care about this kind of thing, otherwise he wouldn't divide his soul." Harry expressed his worries, "Maybe there is an upper limit for a person to divide his soul, but I think this way of thinking is not suitable for use in Voldemort doesn't look like a human being."
"I think that as long as the magic power is not damaged, once Voldemort realizes that his Horcruxes have been destroyed one by one, that guy will definitely split a small piece of his soul to make a Horcrux and hide it. Make sure you don’t get killed easily.”
"If I were Voldemort, I would definitely do this. Once all the Horcruxes are lost, Albert will definitely kill him with thunder."
Yes, Harry felt that Albert was hiding just waiting for them to destroy all the Horcruxes and then come out to give Voldemort a hard blow.
"The situation you mentioned is not impossible." Dumbledore did not deny this possibility.
Will Voldemort create a seventh Horcrux?
In fact, Voldemort did do that unintentionally. Although Harry is not actually a Horcrux to a certain extent, it can exert a similar effect to a Horcrux.
As long as the small fragment of soul on Harry's forehead is not destroyed, Voldemort will not die completely, but Dumbledore obviously has no intention of telling Harry this.
At least not now.
"It is unheard of for Voldemort to divide his soul so crazily as Voldemort did." Dumbledore said calmly, "The soul cannot be divided infinitely. Voldemort obviously realized very early on that dividing the soul too many times might bring consequences. There are hidden dangers, so I chose to divide it into seven parts. As I just said, not only for more powerful power, but also to make the soul more stable."
"But... the number seven is completely broken, isn't it? Horcruxes don't provide themselves with any significant magical protection as Voldemort imagined, and I think he must be aware of this." Harry still insisted on his point of view.
In his opinion, Voldemort didn't really care whether he lost his humanity or his soul became unstable. As long as it didn't affect his strength and he could survive after losing all his Horcruxes, Harry believed that Voldemort wouldn't mind dividing them again. One soul.
"If that happens, I think Voldemort probably has nothing to fear." Dumbledore noticed Harry's doubtful look and explained calmly, "When his soul becomes more and more broken, he will leave." The end is not far away.”
"Harry, you think Voldemort's divided soul has not changed because you don't really understand Voldemort." Dumbledore took out the memory from his temple and put it into the pensieve. "I taught Tom Riddle for seven years. I know very well what he looked like when he was young. He was a smart and cunning child, maybe not as dazzling as Mr. Anderson, but certainly not inferior. But when you look at Voldemort now, you simply can't imagine that they are the same person."
“Splitting the soul many times caused Voldemort to gradually lose his humanity and become mentally abnormal.” Dumbledore continued, “Splitting the soul is not without side effects.”
"The instability of the soul has caused the connection between Voldemort's main soul and the Horcrux to be completely severed, and the state of the Horcrux can no longer be felt. Thanks to this, we have the opportunity to operate without Voldemort noticing. Destroy his Horcruxes one by one without being noticed."
"The best proof is that when I destroyed the ring and the pendant, Voldemort didn't react at all." Dumbledore picked up the remains of the two Horcruxes, looked at Harry and said, "When the diary was destroyed, Voldemort was in a In the spirit state, he cannot detect the destruction of the diary. But now after his resurrection, he still cannot detect the destruction of the Horcrux. This is one of the sequelae caused by splitting the soul too many times."
(End of this chapter)