Chapter 306 - Platonic (1/2)

Dumbledore's office was silent. Dumbledore was on his chair and in front of him, Chris and Harry sat in their usual seats. Every portrait of the previous headmaster and headmistress were awake and leaning forward to hear what was going on.

”I have been hoping for this piece of evidence for a very long time,” said Dumbledore at last. ”It confirms the theory on which I have been working, it tells me that I am right, and also how very far there is still to go. . . .”

”Seven then,” said Chris.

”Yes, seven,” nodded Dumbledore.

”He made seven Horcruxes?” said Harry, horror-struck, while several of the portraits on the walls made similar noises of shock and outrage.

”And we have destroyed only two,” sighed Chris. ”The Diary and the Locket.”

”What else there could be? We have five more left,” said Harry shocked.

”I am glad to see you appreciate the magnitude of the problem,” said Dumbledore calmly. ”But firstly, no, Harry, not five Horcruxes: four. The seventh part of his soul, however, maimed, resides inside his regenerated body. That was the part of him that lived a spectral existence for so many years during his exile; without that, he has no self at all. That seventh piece of the soul will be the last that anybody wishing to kill Voldemort must attack — the piece that lives in his body.”

”But four more Horcruxes, then,” said Harry, a little desperately, ”how are we supposed to find them?”

”I have my guesses,” said Dumbledore. ”And I think you, Harry, know too what the other Horcruxes could be. Lord Voldemort liked to collect trophies, and he preferred objects with a powerful magical history. His pride, his belief in his own superiority, his determination to carve for himself a startling place in magical history; these things suggest to me that Voldemort would have chosen his Horcruxes with some care, favouring objects worthy of the honour.”

”Like the Slytherin's locket,” said Chris.

”Yes,” said Dumbledore. ”For the reasons I have already given, I believe that Lord Voldemort would prefer objects that, in themselves, have a certain grandeur. I have therefore trawled back through Voldemort's past to see if I can find evidence that such artefacts have disappeared around him.”

”Hufflepuff's cup!” said Harry loudly. ”Marvolo's ring!”

”Yes,” said Dumbledore, smiling, ”I would be prepared to bet my hand, that they became Horcruxes three and four. The remaining two, assuming again that he created a total of six, are more of a problem, but I will hazard a guess that having secured objects from Hufflepuff and Slytherin, he set out to track down objects owned by Gryffindor or Ravenclaw. Four objects from the four founders would, I am sure, have exerted a powerful pull over Voldemort's imagination. I cannot answer for whether he ever managed to find anything of Ravenclaw's. I am confident, however, that the only known relic of Gryffindor remains safe.”

”Do you think that's why he really wanted to come back to Hogwarts, sir?” said Harry. ”To try and find something from one of the other founders?”

”My thoughts precisely,” said Dumbledore. ”But unfortunately, that does not advance us much further, for he was turned away, or so I believe, without the chance to search the school. I am forced to conclude that he never fulfilled his ambition of collecting four founders' objects. He definitely had two — he may have found three — that is the best we can do for now.”

”So he got something from Ravenclaw's too and then?” asked Chris. ”There is another one.”

”Yes, and I think I know what the sixth Horcrux is. I wonder what you will say when I confess that I have been curious for a while about the behaviour of the snake, Nagini?”

”The snake?” said Harry, startled. ”You can use animals as Horcruxes?”

”Well, it is inadvisable to do so,” said Dumbledore, ”because to confide a part of your soul to something that can think and move for itself is obviously very risky business. However, if my calculations are correct, he used Nagini to kill an old Muggle man, and it might then have occurred to him to turn her into his last Horcrux. She underlines the Slytherin connection, which enhances Lord Voldemort's mystique; I think he is perhaps as fond of her as he can be of anything; he certainly likes to keep her close, and he seems to have an unusual amount of control over her, even for a Parselmouth.”

”So,” said Harry, ”the diary's gone, the locket's gone. The ring, the cup, and the snake are still intact, and there might be a Horcrux that was once Ravenclaw's.”

”An admirably succinct and accurate summary, yes,” said Dumbledore, bowing his head.