Chapter 1,186

Slughorn's expression was a little dull, and the stimulation brought by alcohol had paralyzed most of Slughorn's originally keen perception.

Now it looked more like Harry and Slughorn had reversed their previous behaviors. Slughorn just looked at Harry blankly, holding his own glass of wine in both hands.

"Voldemort killed him," Harry said calmly, "then stepped over his body and walked towards my mother."

Slughorn shuddered, but he couldn't let his fearful eyes leave Harry's face.

"He told her to leave from there," Harry continued expressionlessly. "Fan Lin told me she didn't have to die. Voldemort only wanted me and she could have escaped."

"Oh, my God." Slughorn took a deep breath. "She could have, she didn't have to, that would be terrible!"

After saying this, Slughorn was like a ball that suddenly deflated. He exhausted all his strength, but what he waited for was indeed such a result.

Slughorn wasn't surprised, it was just that his way of doing things was the same as most people.

"It's really scary, isn't it," Harry narrated calmly, as if he was telling a story that was insignificant to him, "But she didn't leave. My father is dead, but she didn't want me to be like that, She tried to plead with Voldemort, but Voldemort just laughed..."

"That's enough!" Slughorn suddenly shouted, raising a trembling arm, "Really, I have a child, that's enough, I'm just an old man, I don't want to hear... I don't need to hear... …”

"I forgot," Harry lied, as the Lucky Potion told him to do, "you liked her, didn't you? My mother..."

"Do I like her?" Slughorn seemed to be asking himself, his eyes filled with tears again, "I can't imagine the mysterious man meeting her but not killing her... very brave... very interesting... but this It’s the scariest.”

"But you didn't help her son. She gave me life, but you refused to give me even a memory." Harry suddenly said coldly, like a cold wind that penetrated into the bone marrow. If possible, the entire The temperature in the cabin has dropped.

Hagrid's rumbling snores filled the cabin, and Harry looked firmly at Slughorn's tear-filled eyes. The Potions teacher looked so close.

"Don't say that, that's not a problem. If that memory can help you, of course... but it won't work." Slughorn said hesitantly. This was very difficult for him, but Harry His eyes lit up.

"It can. Dumbledore needs its information, and so do I." Harry said clearly. He knew he was safe, Luck had told him Slughorn wouldn't remember anything in the morning.

Did you drink enough?

I'm afraid it's not Shi Lezhiyou who drinks with Hagrid.

So Harry stared straight at Slughorn, and Harry understood something. "I am the chosen one, I need to kill Voldemort, I need that memory."

Slughorn turned even paler, beads of sweat glistening on his smooth forehead. "Are you the chosen one?"

"Of course I am," Harry said calmly.

"But, my dear boy, you are asking for a great deal. You are asking me... actually to help you try to break it."

"Don't you want to get rid of that wizard? It was him who killed Lily Evans, and he also wants you..." Harry said angrily, very dissatisfied with Slughorn's insistence. I understand, there was obviously a chance to solve all this, but Slughorn still chose to hide it for so long.

Harry had roughly understood the meaning of the soul fragment, a part of Voldemort's soul, probably... a Horcrux?

"Harry, Harry I do, but..."

"Are you afraid that he will find out that you helped me?"

Slughorn stopped talking. He looked scary.

"Be like my mother and be brave, Professor. Nothing is ever solved by running away."

For a while, the scene fell into a long silence.

Slughorn really looked like he had drunk too much. His nerves were a little sluggish and he seemed to be making judgments. However, in this state, he could not find any other way except recognition.

Slowly, Slughorn raised a fat hand and put his fingers to his mouth. At that time, he looked like an overgrown baby.

"I'm ashamed," Slughorn said from between his fingers. "I'm ashamed of the memory, and I feel like I may have caused a lot of damage that day."

"It would be a very brave and noble thing for you to tell me about the deleted part of your memory." Harry said with relief.

Hagrid suddenly twitched in his sleep, then continued to snore. There was a long silence as Harry and Slughorn looked at each other on either side of the flickering candle, and Luck told Harry not to break the silence, but to just wait.

Then Slughorn took out his wand and with his other hand pulled a small bottle from his pocket, empty. Slughorn touched his temple with the tip of the wand, and when he withdrew it, a trace of silver memory was brought out, which stuck to one end of the wand. Then the memory became longer and longer, and Slughorn coiled it up. Into the bottle. Then the memory became a vortex in the bottle like gas.

With trembling hands he handed the bottle over the table to Harry.

"Thank you very much, Professor."

"You are a good boy," Slughorn said, his tears finally falling from his cheeks into his thick beard. "You have the same eyes as hers. Don't think too bad of me after seeing it..."

Then he rested his head on his arms, sighed, and fell asleep.

As Harry climbed back into the castle, he could feel Filch walking away. The front door was still unlocked, but on the third floor he encountered Peeves, who hid in a shortcut and barely escaped detection. When he arrived at the Fat Lady's portrait and took off his invisibility cloak, he was not surprised to find that she was in a bad mood.

"Do you know what time it is?"

"I'm really sorry...I have something very important to do so I have to go out..."

"Good, the passwords changed at midnight, so you're going to have to sleep in the hallway, okay?"

"You're kidding!" said Harry, "Why does it have to change at midnight"? "That's the way it is," said the Fat Lady.

"If you're angry, go to the principal. He ordered security to be tightened."

"Excellent," Harry said bitterly, looking at the hard floor. "How clever. Yes, if Dumbledore was here, I would go to him. Because he wants me to be there."

"He's at school," said a voice behind Harry.

"Professor Dumbledore returned to school an hour ago." Nearly headless Nick was sliding towards Harry, his head shaking on his collar as usual. "I heard from Bloody Barrow that he saw him coming back," Nick said. "He said that Professor Dumbledore was in good spirits and happy, but a little tired, of course."

"Where is he?" Harry, his heart was beating fast.

"Well, he moaned and clanked in the astronomy tower, it was his favorite pastime," Nick said, but that certainly didn't look like Dumbledore.

"It's not Bloody Barrow... I'm asking where Dumbledore is!"

"Oh—in his office, I believe," Nick said. "Bloody Barrow said that the professor has something to do before going to bed..."

"Yes, he's in trouble," Harry said, excitement burning in his chest at the thought of telling Dumbledore that he had asked about his memories. He turned around and started running hard again, ignoring the fat lady who was calling behind him.

"Come back! Yes, I lied to you! I was very annoyed because you woke me up! The password is still 'tapeworm'!"

But Harry was already running down the corridor, and a few minutes later he stopped in front of Dumbledore's stone monster and said the command "Toffee fingers."

The stone monster jumped aside, allowing Harry to enter the spiral staircase.

"Come in," Dumbledore said as Harry knocked on the door. He sounded exhausted. Harry pushed open the door. Dumbledore's office looked the same as before, but outside the window was a dark sky filled with stars.

"Fan Lin?" Harry looked at Fan Lin sitting on the sofa drinking tea with Dumbledore in a daze.

"So, professor, I won." Fan Lin said with a smile.

"Very unexpected, but I'm very happy," Dumbledore said.

"Professor - I got it. I've got the memories from Professor Slughorn." Harry took out the small glass bottle and showed it to Dumbledore. At that moment, the principal looked like he was going to faint. Then a smile appeared on his face.

"Of course, Fan Lin and I made a small bet about this, but obviously, Fan Lin wants to know you better, Harry!" Dumbledore said, standing up and taking the handbag from Harry. bottle.

A silver memory thread is entangled at the bottom of the bottle.

Harry looked up at Dumbledore. For some reason, Harry always felt that something was wrong. Dumbledore was much more tired than before, his face was a little pale, and his eyes became more...

A touch of dull blue?

Harry felt that he had seen it wrong, but for a moment, Harry felt that his body was a little cold.

"What's wrong, Harry?" Fan Lin came over, he patted Harry on the shoulder, and Harry came back to his senses.

"when did you come?"

"About an hour ago." Fan Lin said, "Tease Fox."

Only then did Harry notice Fox squatting on Fanlin's shoulder.

"Now, then," said Dumbledore, striding out, placing the Pensieve on the desk and emptying the contents of the bottle. "Now, we'll see. Harry, come on... I can't wait!"

Harry bowed obediently and entered the pensieve, feeling his feet leave the office floor... He fell into darkness once again and landed in Horace Slughorn's office many years ago.

Slughorn was much younger then, judging by his thick, shiny straw-colored hair and his ginger mustache. He was in his office, sitting in a comfortable winged armchair, His feet were resting on a velvet ottoman, a small glass of wine in one hand, and the other rummaging through a crystal pineapple box.

Half a dozen boys were sitting around Slughorn, including Tom Riddle. Morfin's black and gold ring shone on his finger.

Dumbledore landed next to Fanlin and Harry, and Riddle asked, "Sir, is Professor Armando really going to retire?"

"Tom, Tom, if I knew, I couldn't tell you," said Slughorn, wagging his finger reproachfully at Riddle but winking at the same time. "I must say, I want to know where you got your information from, you are smarter than more than half of your classmates."

Riddle smiled; the other boys smiled and gave him appreciative looks. “What an uncanny ability you have to know things you’re not supposed to know, and your careful compliments to those who matter… Of course, thank you for the pineapple, which you’re quite right by the way, it’s my favorite… "

The boys chuckled again.

"...I'm quite confident that you will be Minister of Magic in twenty years if you keep giving me pineapples in just five years, and I have great acquaintances in the Ministry." Tom Riddle was just like everyone else again Laughed.

Harry noticed that he was not the eldest of the group of boys, but they all seemed to regard him as their leader.

This is probably the charm of Voldemort. Those Death Eaters, Dumbledore told him, Tom had pulled out the first group of followers as early as when he was at Hogwarts.

Slughorn's Slug Club is a good place. The people here are capable enough and have a good background behind them.

Either a noble, someone in charge of the Ministry of Magic, or a very powerful person.

"I don't know if politics is for me, sir," Tom said humbly when there was no laughter. "I have no family background at all."

A pair of boys nearby were laughing at each other. It was certain that they were telling a private joke, and no doubt they knew, or suspected, something about their chief's famous ancestor.

"Nonsense," Slughorn said lively, "Even people from a wizarding family may not have the ability like you. No, you will do a lot, Tom, I have never made a mistake with a student."

At this time, the small golden clock on the desk behind Slughorn chimed eleven o'clock.

Everyone cheered up, and the main movie began. This is the most important part of the memory.

"Jesus, isn't it already time? You better get going, boys, or we're all going to be in trouble. Anderson, I want you to turn in your paper tomorrow or I'm going to put you in detention, and so are you, Wade ”

With that said, the boys filed out of the room one by one. Slughorn stood up from the armchair and placed the empty glass on the desk. A movement behind him made him look around; Riddle was still standing there.

"Oh, Tom, you definitely don't want to be caught, and you are so good... maybe Filch will be lenient."

"Sir, I want to ask you something and then leave."

Slughorn was in a good mood, with his belly puffed out, waiting for Tom's next words.

"Sir, I would like to know...about the soul fragment?" Slughorn stared at him, his thick palm absently clutching his glass.

"Preparing for Defense Against the Dark Arts, right?"

However, it is certain that Slughorn must know that this is not school homework.

"Not quite, sir," Riddle said. “I stumbled across him while reading, but I didn’t fully understand it.”

"No. Well... it's hard for you to find a book in Hogwarts that can tell you the soul fragments in detail, Tom. That is a very evil thing, indeed very evil." (To be continued)